The summit on the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act will be held around the end of June.
Basil Nkhwashu, executive manager for Aarto, at the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), says this will be the next step in the Aarto public consultation process.
He adds that the RTMC is going through the comments received from the public to see how many there are and what has been said. The period for public comments closed last week.
Nkhwashu says only 13 comments were received and almost all were from industry organisations.
Careful consultations
The Act was supposed to be rolled out around April, but the Department of Transport (DOT) decided to hold public consultations on the matter first, to avoid the backlash that accompanied the e-tolling project.
The RTMC and Tasima, which developed the technical systems for the project, say the initiative is ready for rollout on the technical side.
“Aarto is ready. It's just a matter of when the minister decides to gazette it. There's no technical reason for the Aarto delay. It's ready and can be switched on. We suspect the reason for the delay is interest group and political issues,” says Tasima CEO Tebogo Mphuti.
Acting CEO of the RTMC Collins Letsoalo says there needs to be public consultation and engagement with stakeholders before implementation.
This is to avoid a situation similar to the one plaguing the Gauteng e-tolling system, where toll fees were announced with no public engagement and then suspended due to outrage over the prices and system, as a whole.
DOT spokesperson Logan Maistry says the department does not want to rush the consultation process and so there is no rough date for implementation as yet. He adds that the summit will include a wide range of stakeholders, including organised labour, municipalities, provinces and taxi organisations.
Transport minister Sibusiso Ndebele previously said: “The Aarto Act was passed 12 years ago. Its implementation has seen too many confusing starts and stops, which have been very confusing to the public.”
Driver benefit
With the Aarto system, drivers gain demerit points when they commit traffic offences and this will be reflected on the National Contravention Register on eNatis. After 12 demerits are gained, a driver's licence will be suspended.
The RTMC previously said it would spend over R300 million on IT and marketing for the demerit system.
Aarto is for the benefit of the road user, because - at the moment - licences can be suspended for one offence and could result in a criminal record. However, with Aarto, a motorist has to diminish all their points before their licence can be suspended and there is no criminal record, says Maistry.
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