Aarto pothole to be filled?

International software development company R2x is in talks with government to integrate the proposed Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) management solution with eNatis to overcome a gap in the system.

The company has offices in SA and Canada, and says Aarto poses significant challenges to transport organisations in the form of pre-trip inspections, driver records, demerit points, fines and penalties, and the infringement lifecycle.

Employers are held accountable by law for sending out unlicensed drivers on the road and face fines of up to almost R3 000 for every unlicensed driver if this is breached.

However, firms currently have no access to a driver's information, without their consent. There is also no legal or formal procedure for companies to determine the status of a driver's licence, once consent is granted.

“If not managed properly, Aarto can add complexity and risk to fleet management activities, significantly increase costs and liability for businesses, lead to suspended drivers' licences and operator cards, and lead to immobilised or impounded vehicles and fleets,” says R2x.

“There is a huge question around how a company will fairly meet the requirements of legislation if they have no means of getting access to information,” says Gavin Kelly, technical and operations manager at the Road Freight Association (RFA).

R2x CEO Hewitt Roberts says any long-term solution to the problem will require integration with eNatis. The company is in discussions with government and will have concrete answers within weeks.

R2x wants government to allow its Aarto management solution, R2MS, to integrate with eNatis to overcome the legislative gap.

R2MS is a Web-based solution and enables management of inspections, drivers, infringements, fines, demerits, deadlines and deliverables.

Roberts says the software tool allows for transparent management of the infringement lifecycle, provides real-time scorecards, and allows users to track driver, operator and fleet licences, permits, demerit points, suspension thresholds and renewal deadlines.

“It gives a risk-based view across regions, depots, divisions and entire businesses.”

The tool features e-mail and SMS notifications, a real-time interactive map view of fleet offences and infringement hotspots, and can be accessed through smartphones.

There is real-time visibility of penalised drivers and management of driver “private time” demerits.

The tool keeps track of 50% penalty discount deadlines; dates when Aarto documents are sent and received; demerit points allocated to driver and operator cards; and court dates.

R2x says an employer can avoid operator card fines, which are triple the penalty, by ensuring that all drivers have been nominated properly.

R2MS access is currently provided by annual subscription for unlimited users on an unlimited number of computers.

The subscription is priced by vehicle, at R17 per vehicle per month.

It has a three-tier application design and integration services are XML Web services, built in import/export capabilities, and custom integration, according to R2x.

Currently, the only way to check on the status of drivers' licences before each shift is to fill in a form and fax or post it to the official Aarto agency.

Aarto executive manager Basil Nkhwashu says the form is required to get a driver's consent for the company to access their information. However, once the consent is given, there is no formal next step to be taken.

“Once the company gets consent, they can call and liaise with the RTMC [Road Traffic Management Corporation] to get the information,” says Nkhwashu.

After questions from ITWeb about the possibility of a database that companies can use to determine the status of drivers' licences, Nkhwashu explained that eNatis will be the only database, and the RTMC could possibly organise for companies to have access to it, but they currently will not be able to.

Aarto was meant to be implemented nationwide on 1 April, but has been indefinitely postponed so that the RTMC can consult with the industry and stakeholders, according to acting CEO Collins Letsoalo.

However, industry representatives argue that the reason Aarto has been held up is because there isn't a national database that can be used for the purpose of making sure unlicensed drivers are not sent out on the roads.

“Not having data is a critical reason why Aarto is not running,” says Kelly.

Under Aarto, drivers lose points when they commit traffic offences. Drivers have 12 points to start with, and lose points depending on the severity of the traffic offence. Once all the points have been lost, licences are suspended.

Lost points are logged on the National Contravention Register on eNatis.