South Africa’s new road laws are being rolled out in major cities across the country, making sweeping changes to the way traffic fines are processed.
The Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO) was officially implemented on 1 July 2026 across 62 of South Africa’s largest municipalities.
The remaining 151 municipalities will be added to the system in the third quarter of the financial year between October and December 2026.
Notably, this does not include any municipalities in the Western Cape for the time being, as the province has been temporarily excluded from the rollout.
This is because the City of Cape Town has initiated a formal intergovernmental dispute process, citing concerns over legal and operational prerequisites that have yet to be fulfilled.
It noted that roughly 48% of enforcement officers are still unable to register on NaTIS, and that AARTO relies on the South African Post Office to deliver traffic fine notices, even though it is extremely unreliable.
It also pointed out that AARTO’s Standard Operating Procedure has yet to be finalised, and that AARTO uses a new revenue-sharing model that may reduce municipal income.
In response to these concerns, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy agreed to suspend the implementation of Phase 2 of the AARTO in the Western Cape.
Cape Town Mayco member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, said the city does not oppose AARTO in principle, but that it does not support the new laws in their current form or within the proposed time frame.
How AARTO changes South Africa’s traffic laws
While the AARTO rollout has been delayed in the Western Cape, the new laws are still set to be implemented nationwide within the next year.
AARTO introduces a new system where traffic laws are split into two categories that follow different procedures.
This is in contrast to the old system, where all traffic offences were handled under the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA).
Speeding infringements and other offences were treated as “guilty until proven innocent” where motorists were allowed to challenge fines in court if they chose to argue they were not guilty.
Under AARTO, violations are treated as “infringements” or “offences,” depending on their severity.
Minor actions are treated as infringements and are handled administratively by the Road Traffic Infringement Agency.
More severe violations are considered offences, which will continue to be handled under the CPA, initiating legal proceedings.
All fines have a base value of R100 and are multiplied by a penalty value set for different violations.
Motorists will receive a 50% discount if they pay within 32 days. Failing to pay within this timeframe will add a R100 fee, and a courtesy letter will be issued.
Those who fail to pay within the next 32 days will receive another R100 fine and trigger an enforcement notice.
One important aspect of AARTO that has yet to be implemented is the new driver’s licence demerit system, where motorists will accumulate points on their licence for various traffic violations.
The number of points allocated depends on the severity of the offence, as driving 12km/h over the limit will incur one point, while arrestable offences like drunk driving will receive six.
Once a person exceeds 15 points, their licence will be suspended for a period of three months for every point over the limit. Driving during this time is considered a criminal offence.
If a person’s licence is suspended for a third time, it will be cancelled and they will be required to retake their learner’s test and driver’s test to apply for a new one once the suspension period is over.
The demerit points decay at a rate of one every three months.
This system has not yet been implemented anywhere in South Africa and is only expected to go live in April 2027 at the earliest.
Attempts to stop AARTO
Cape Town is not the only stakeholder that has voiced concerns over the AARTO rollout.
Days before the official launch on 1 July, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) filed an urgent High Court application to stop the rollout.
It sought to block the implementation due to concerns about AARTO’s funding model, noting that many municipalities in South Africa are already operating in an increasingly constrained fiscal environment.
“The current AARTO regulations, published in October 2025, impose financial burdens on municipalities without providing a sustainable funding model that will ensure effective implementation,” it said.
“The proposed financial arrangements would result in municipalities spending more than they can earn, effectively forcing local government to subsidise the implementation of AARTO,” it said.
However, the application was dismissed by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on 30 June, citing a lack of urgency.
The case was not dismissed on its merits, however, and SALGA said that its legal team is preparing to take the matter forward.
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