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Will the real RTIA please stand
T
he Road Traffic Infringement Agency
(RTIA) is
responsible for the fair
adjudication of traffic infringements under
the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic
Offences (AARTO) Act to discourage road users
from breaking traffic laws and encourage good
driver behaviour.
outstanding obligations; as well as authorising
enforcement orders to persuade motorists to pay
penalties.
The AARTO Act makes provision for the demerit
points system and the ultimate cancellation of
licences of habitual road traffic offenders. This is
all to be effected at national roll-out of AARTO
The RTIA seeks to protect the rights of road users which will be announced by the Minister of
by ensuring that they understand such rights and Transport.
obligations, in terms of the AARTO Act by
undertaking community education and Currently the RTIA is preparing to roll out the
AARTO throughout the country so that all road
awareness programmes.
traffic authorities
operate using the same
Day to day operations of the RTIA include procedures.
adjudicating representations by motorists and
vehicle owners; to remind motorists of their
AARTO a South African first
A
ARTO is required to restore law and order Ÿ AARTO is aimed at promoting driver
in the road traffic arena. Road crashes
behaviour, respect and consideration of other
happen as a result of road users not
drivers, vehicles and road users.
abiding by the rules of the road, reckless,
negligent, inconsiderate and aggressive driver Ÿ AARTO procedures are needed to promote
road safety through the effective and speedy
behaviour.
consideration of traffic violations and to
Ÿ The AARTO process starts with the traffic
enforce the payment of traffic penalties.
officer observing a traffic violation and issuing
an infringement notice.
Ÿ After having received such notice, the infringer
must select any one of the options provided
within a period of 32 days.
Ÿ These options include: payment of the
penalty; arranging to pay in instalments; elect
to be tried in court; submit a representation or
nominate the driver of the vehicle at the time
the infringement was committed.
The National Contravention
Register or NCR is part of the
national traffic information
system that holds all the
infringement and
offence information of every
individual.
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AARTO The Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic
Offenses (AARTO) Act promotes road traffic quality by
providing a scheme to discourage road traffic contraventions, facilitate adjudication of
road traffic infringements
and implement a points
demerit system.
An infringement
is the failure to observe the
law.
An infringer is a person who
is alleged to have committed
an infringement or of breaking
the law.
An infringement notice is a
notification sent or given to
an alleged infringer.
An issuing authority
is the traffic law enforcement authority or department that issues the infringement notice. This includes
National, Provincial and Local
traffic authorities.
A penalty is the amount
payable by an infringer
for an infringement.
A representation officer is a person
appointed by the RTIA to consider
representations when an alleged infringer
elect to make a representation.
A representation is when an infringer
challenges the infringement notice and
gives reasons why he/she cannot be held
accountable for that infringement.
page 1
The RTIA Registrar, Mr Japh Chuwe
This means systems are currently being tested
and perfected before the AARTO national roll out
so that road users do not experience frustrations
at traffic centres.The pilot phase has given RTIA
an opportunity to iron out any system glitches so
that motorists get world class service.
S
ince its inception four short years ago, the
RTIA has been making striders in road
safety and safe guarding the rights of
motorists. As the home of the AARTO Act we
hold motorists accountable for their actions on
the road thus creating a safer environment for all
road users. The country continues to bleed from
road crashes, yet, very little or not enough is
being done to curb these senseless deaths. The
RTIA, custodian of the AARTO Act with its
inherent points demerit system, believes that
this Act will revolutionise road safety and
management of road traffic infringements in
South Africa and the Southern African
Development Community.
THE ROAD TO SUCCESS IS
ALWAYS UNDER
CONSTRUCTION
We were under no illusions about the difficulties
we would face in implementing AARTO
particularly because it is human nature to view
change with suspicion but the time had come to
address non-compliance to road traffic laws
holistically. In so doing the root causes of deviant
behaviour on our roads would be addressed.
Most motorists view traffic laws as a way to
collect revenue rather than to increase road
safety, and this is one of the major challenges
RTIA faces - showing the motorists that road
traffic laws are there to protect. These
perceptions are being addressed through the
RTIA’s communication programmes.
Technology has advanced extensively in the
past ten years since the AARTO Act was
promulgated and that has made communication
more convenient and cheaper. Recognising this,
the RTIA - through the Department of Transport tabled the AARTO Amendment Bill that seeks to
remedy deficiencies in the Act including cost
effective ways of serving courtesy letters and
other documents.
MOVING FORWARD
South Africans must recognise that roads are a
common and shared benefit to be enjoyed by all,
from motorists to cyclists and pedestrians; by
obeying all traffic laws. As we travel to various
destinations on a daily basis let us all do our best
to arrive at our destinations safely. To all drivers
of public transport vehicles and private vehicles
remember, you are carrying the most important
and valuable assets that our country has - its
people. Yours is to deliver them safely to their
various destinations.
As such AARTO must be prioritised as a new
path to address road user behaviour because it
was designed to encourage compliance with
road traffic laws as a solution to reduce crashes
and deaths. Road safety challenges can be
linked directly to the culture of non-compliance
brought about by the fact that less than 20% of
road users pay for outstanding infringements
without consequence, creating the belief that
Let us accept road safety as the responsibility of
motorists can get away with dangerous AARTO brings with it uniformity in fines and each and every one of us and stop the reckless
behaviour.
affords all motorists access to traffic information carnage on our roads.
wherever they may be.
YOU RECEIVE AN AARTO INFRINGEMENT EITHER ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD
FROM A TRAFFIC OFFICER OR IN THE POST. THE CLOCK STARTS TICKING ON
THE
AFTER RECEIVING AN INFRINGEMENT NOTICE YOU HAVE 32 DAYS TO:
Using your infringement notice
as a reference number pay the
50% penalty at:
Ÿ ABSA
Ÿ FNB
Ÿ Standard Bank
or
Ÿ South African Post Office
Ÿ www.paycity.co.za
Ÿ Municipal Offices and Drivers
Licence Testing Centres.
Nominate a driver or person in
control of the vehicle at the
time the infringement took
or
Lodge a representation
with the RTIA where the
RTIA will then fairly assess
the dispute and give an
outcome.
or
Arrange to pay your
penalty or fine in
installments through RTIA
on:
[email protected].
Elect to be tried
in court.
or
AFTER THE FIRST 32 DAYS, YOU WILL RECEIVE A COURTESY LETTER IF YOU DID NOTHING ABOUT THE INFRINGEMENT:
Pay the full amount and admin
fee at any designated pay
points. When making any
payments all you need is the
correct infringement number
as a reference.
Lodge a representation with
the RTIA for a fair assessment
of the dispute.
or
Elect to be tried
in court.
or
or
Arrange to pay your penalty
in installments through the
RTIA on:
[email protected]
or +27 87 285 0500
AFTER THE FIRST 32 DAYS, YOU WILL RECEIVE AN ENFORCEMENT ORDER IF YOU DID NOTHING ABOUT THE INFRINGEMENT:
Pay the full amount and admin
fee at any designated pay
points by using your correct
infringe- ment number as a
reference.
page 2
or
Elect to be tried
in court.
or
Apply to have an
enforcement order revoked
or cancelled.
The talented AARTO
WHY
THE CARROT
he number of deaths on South African
roads has become untenable. The fines
imposed on motorists to encourage
compliance with traffic laws go unpaid, even with
the threat of a criminal record, traffic laws are still
ignored. The AARTO Act has been introduced to
address some of these issues.
T
The procedures allow for payment at a
discounted amount within the first 32 days of
receiving the penalty; the nomination of the
driver, if you were not the driver at the time of the
violation; make a representation for the penalty
to be cancelled; arrange to pay in installments;
or choose to go to court.
For the first time in South Africa, traffic violations
will be dealt with administratively which simply
means
These are several elective options available to
you in the AARTO process to explore.
HOW DO
REPRESENTATIONS
WORK?
An infringer who has been served with an
infringement notice is alleged to have
committed a traffic infringement and may
make representation(s) with respect to that
infringement to the RTIA.
If the infringer has not received
acknowledgment of receipt from the RTIA
within 21 days from the date on which the
infringer submitted representation(s), the
infringer must notify the RTIA.
Representations can only be submitted for
infringements still in courtesy letter stage.
The RTIA should inform an infringer of the
decision of the representation officer after
the stipulated time frame of 21 days.
An impartial representation officer will duly
consider the matter and conduct
investigations to verify the facts if
necessary. He/she will then allow the
representation if there are reasonable
grounds or deny the representation if there
are none.
that there will be no prosecutors or courts
involved unless a motorist has committed an
offence or choose to be tried in court. An
administrative process also means no criminal
records are attracted by motorists should the
outcome of the administrative process be
unfavourable for them.
TOGETHER WE STAND
Imagine a time where all appeals and complaints
with regards to traffic violations are dealt with in a
standardised way from a central point. A time
where the merits of each traffic violation case are
carefully considered and motorists who have
violated the law are penalised. The AARTO Act
introduces standardised procedures and
penalties to deal with traffic violations. As a
motorist the procedures gives you, without
having to go to court, the opportunity to present
your side of the story in a case where you believe
any penalty received has no basis or the
violation you are penalised for was a result of
circumstances beyond your control.
THE STICK
If the representation is allowed the RTIA will
cancel the infringement notice and no fees
or penalties will be payable by the infringer.
Traffic violations would further be punished by
the allocation of demerit points at a point of If the representations are rejected there will
finalisation of the processing of the penalty. The be a administrative fee added to the original
penalty amount as charged. The infringer
demerits ensures that those who can afford to
may
then elect to be tried in court, arrange
pay penalties as and when they receive such, do
not only suffer pecuniary loss but may also have to settle the full amount in one payment or
in installments or nominate the applicable
their driving licenses suspended or cancelled.
driver.
WHY DO WE NEED
AARTO creates a seamless traffic infringement
administration process. This means information
will be readily available from any traffic
department or centre you choose to access as a
motorist.
AARTO provides infringers with the convenience
of paying standardised fines anywhere in the
country including all major commercial banks.
This means that there are no more different
penalties for similar infringements across the
country.
AARTO introduces new technologies and
convenience in the traffic management sector
whereby there is one central database in the
form of the National Contraventions Register
(NCR) for all infringements and penalties
irrespective of where such an infringement has
been issued within the country.
Representions can be sent to RTIA via:
Postal address: Private Bag X112, Halfway
House, 1685
E-mail: [email protected]
Hand delivery: Bekker Road, Waterfall Park
Offices, 1st Floor, 253 Howick Close,
Midrand
This database addresses all the traffic needs of a
motorist including checking your infringement
status. The carrot and stick principles within
AARTO would foster voluntary compliance to
traffic laws by road users.
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