Media reports suggesting that an amendment in the draft Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Amendment Bill may make it legal for the state to e-mail traffic fines to alleged infringers are off track.
This is according to Howard Dembovsky, chairman of Justice Project SA (JPSA), who says - while insertions in the Aarto Amendment Bill may be vague - section 4A (dealing with electronic notice of infringement) does not include ordinary motorists.
The insertion of section 4A reads: "Where the infringer is a juristic person, an infringement notice may be served electronically on that infringer, who must identify the driver or person responsible for the vehicle at the time the infringement was committed."
Dembovsky points out that "juristic persons" include companies, trusts and other organisations, which may register motor vehicles, nominating a proxy and a representative for their organisations.
"Nowhere in the proposed amendments is it contemplated that an ordinary motor vehicle owner or driver will have infringement notices delivered to them 'by e-mail', and furthermore, the 'electronic service' referred to in the Amendment Bill does not specify what type of electronic delivery will be deemed as constituting service," notes Dembovsky.
Speedier process
The insertion of section 4A, says Dembovsky, is apparently intended to facilitate the insertion of section 4B, which goes on to say: "Upon receipt of the electronic nomination, the issuing authority shall serve the infringement notice on the identified driver or person responsible for the vehicle at the time the infringement was committed."
He says the amendment is "clearly" being proposed to facilitate a speedier and less administratively burdensome driver nomination process for companies that operate fleets of motor vehicles where the proxy will rarely be the actual person that is operating the vehicle when an infringement is committed.
"Electronic service will be of benefit to companies in the case of infringement notices that result from camera fines, etc, where the driver of the vehicle is not stopped at the time so as to facilitate nomination of the driver timeously."
Dembovsky notes that, while most companies would have access to the Internet, e-mail and electronic services, it is estimated that just 11% of the South African population currently has access to the Internet, and there are somewhere in the region of 10 million licensed drivers. "Electronic service of infringement notices to ordinary motorists would, therefore, not only be impractical, but physically impossible."
Amendment feedback
He says, while the inclusion of electronic means for notice distribution is a good idea, the amendment insertion is very vague. "There are a number of other proposed amendments to the Aarto Act contained in the Amendment Bill, and JPSA will indeed be submitting comments on it prior to the closing date for submissions."
The Aarto Amendment Bill - gazetted last month for public input - remains open for comment until the closing date of 23 March.
Although Aarto was passed through Parliament about 14 years ago, its introduction has remained limited (to Johannesburg and Pretoria) because of various administrative issues. According to a memorandum on the Bill's objects, the need for "certain critical amendments" became apparent while piloting the legislation in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Members of the public can e-mail comments on the Aarto Amendment Bill to John Makgatho on makgathj@dot.gov.za or Ngwako Thoka on thokan@dot.gov.za.
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