AARTO rollout delayed again as transport department cites readiness concerns
The expanded implementation of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) Act has been pushed out to next July.
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The expanded implementation of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) Act has been pushed out to next July.
AARTO, which could see drivers losing their licences if they incurred too many infringement points, was expected to be fully rolled out by next December.
In the meantime, the rollout of the actual law, without the actual points deduction, was set to be implemented in 69 municipalities from this December.
By the time the demerit system came into place next December, with the remaining 144 municipalities would have come online.
The postponement was announced by the transport department this afternoon, with the decision having been taken between the Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, and Deputy Minister, Mkhuleko Hlengwa.
In a statement, they say that the postponement “comes amid an assessment by the department of the state of readiness in some of the municipalities that were to form part of the first implementation phase”.
Some of the issues identified during the assessment include finalisation of training of both law enforcement and back-office personnel as well as the need to harmonise the current law enforcement system used by various Municipalities and its funding.
“The department will soon publish the new proclamation with new staggered implementation dates,” it noted, stating that the process will kick off on July 1.
It said that the phased approach of implementation will still be maintained as initially envisaged.
Under the demerit system, motorists who accumulate a total of 15 points will have their licences suspended for three months for each point exceeding this threshold.
These points fall away at a rate of one point for every three months of 'well-behaved' driving, which would see a driver being returned their licence won't remain suspended forever.
However, two suspensions will result in a complete cancellation of a licence.
Ahead of the December rollout, there were already doubts as to whether the government was truly ready to implement this new system.
Most sections of the AARTO Act are due to be rolled out in 69 of South Africa’s key municipalities from December, with other smaller regions set to follow in April.
The dreaded demerit points system was expected to be implemented only in September 2026.
Furthermore, as of early October, more than 80% of all traffic officers had been trained as part of a “refresher” course.
One stumbling block citied by experts has been with the final regulations, which are only expected to be published in late October.
These regulations will regulate the processes, infringements and number of points allocated under the demerit point system.
Stefanie Fick, executive director at the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), previously told IOL that, given how late the regulations are being published, there will be insufficient time for adequate public participation and comment.
Rob Handfield-Jones, managing director of Driving.co.za, has said that, notwithstanding the technological problems which had been raised by the municipalities, the Road Traffic Infringement Agency did not seem objectively ready to implement AARTO.
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