The Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA), which is responsible for the management of the country’s Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) system, has incurred a “substantial debt” to the South African Post Office after failing to cover the costs of fine payment-demand notices sent to motorists, The Sunday Times reports.
Multiple sources told the publication that the RTIA has run out of money to pay the post office for the notices it sends to drivers who incurred fines but have yet to pay them.
This came after the RTIA sent out a batch of outdated demand notices which motorists ignored as they were already invalid by the time the letters were delivered, leading to the RTIA forfeiting the income it would have derived from these payments.
RTIA spokesperson Emmanuel Tshehla subsequently confirmed the agency is “conducting an investigation on the matter of infringement notices that are believed to have been sent late to the infringers.”
Another Aarto roadblock
The Aarto system was first introduced to the Johannesburg and Tshwane municipalities well over a decade ago in 2008 and brings sweeping changes to the way traffic law infringements are handled.
Originally, motorists who broke the rules were prosecuted under the Criminal Procedures Act and faced heavy fines and even imprisonment for transgressions that were not as serious as other crimes that held the same sentences.
With Aarto, however, many of these transgressions have now been decriminalised, and drivers who flout the law are instead penalised by fines and demerit points, which could lead to the suspension and eventual cancelation of their licence if they accrue too many points.
While government touts Aarto as the solution to lawlessness and deaths on South Africa’s roads, it has been slammed by civil rights organisations such as the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) for being a band-aid on a massive wound.
The Aarto pilot has been ongoing in Johannesburg and Tshwane for 16 years but has not brought about the intended drop in road fatalities and traffic offences it was supposed to, and the latest blunder by the RTIA indicates that things are not running smoothly behind the scenes, either.
Stefanie Fick, Outa executive director, states that the RTIA showed “extreme incompetence” in sending out infringement notices and courtesy letters that had already lapsed.
“[Aarto is] just an administrative scheme and a money-making racket that has absolutely nothing to do with road safety,” she said.
The Aarto system is scheduled to roll out nationwide by 1 July 2024, announced Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga last year, however, it remains to be seen whether this deadline will be met.
“It’s a complicated system and if they can’t get it right in Joburg and Pretoria, can you imagine the magnitude of the incompetence if this is rolled out nationwide,” said Fick.
“It’s scary. We don’t need it. We need visible policing and proper law enforcement, not traffic fines just sent out in the post.”
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