Strict driving laws for South Africa declared legal – New fines and demerit points incoming

The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) of South Africa has ruled that the controversial Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act is valid and constitutional, overturning the Pretoria High Court’s ruling that said otherwise.

As such, the Act, which penalises drivers and fleet operators with demerit points that could lead to suspension or cancellation of their driver’s licences, remains legal.

Under Aarto, a number of traffic-related infringements that were historically classed as criminal offences have also been decriminalized, leading to a new three-step process of serving fines to motorists.

During his ruling, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said: “In a unanimous judgment written by me, the Constitutional Court has upheld the contentions advanced by the minister of transport, the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA), and the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) that the subject matter of the Aarto Act falls within the functional area described as ‘road traffic regulation’ … which is within the concurrent legislative competence of parliament and the provincial legislatures,” TimesLive reported.

“This court has concluded in this judgment that parliament had the competence to pass the Aarto Act.”

The ConCourt therefore disagreed with the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse’s (Outa) argument that the legislation unlawfully intrudes upon the exclusive executive and legislative competence of local and provincial governments, thus preventing them from regulating their own affairs.

Aarto is not the answer

Outa contends that the Aarto Act, while remaining legal, is impractical and will not effectively address the epidemic of road traffic fatalities and injuries in South Africa.

“Outa believes that measures to improve road safety and reduce fatalities are urgently needed. However, we don’t believe that the Aarto Acts will achieve this, it’s just not practically possible,” said Outa Executive Director Adv. Stefanie Fick.

“The Aarto Amendment Act with higher penalties, tedious and expensive procedures to be followed by the public, and the total lack of prescription on visible policing will have little or no effect on improving road safety in South Africa,” she said.

The Automobile Association previously said there is no evidence that the Aarto pilot project which launched in 2008 has “saved a single life” and that it is more geared toward revenue collection than reducing road fatalities.