'Big Guns' to challenge AARTO in court

It notes the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry met trade union Solidarity and civil rights organisation AfriForum yesterday to discuss the impact of AARTO, scheduled to be rolled out on 1 April. They agreed the Act will result in millions of vehicles being taken off the road and several businesses collapsing. The group plans to bring an urgent application in the High Court before 15 December in the first step along the road to having the Act declared unconstitutional. Among other things, the group is concerned by the AARTO stipulation that the driver and owner of the vehicles will stack up demerit points for infringements and offences. A driver will, for example, lose one point for a faulty brake light, while the owner will lose four. Tony Wentzel, of the Chamber, noted that between 17% and 25% of businesses may have to close down as a direct result of AARTO. And Moss believes AARTO to be in conflict with labour legislation, the Constitution and parts of the Criminal Procedures Act. Full Beeld report

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) is already acting outside the framework of AARTO by sending notices to errant motorists by normal post, according to a Beeld report. It quotes Howard Dembovsky, of the Justice Project SA, as telling yesterday's meeting that more than 1.2m of these notices had already been sent via normal post instead of registered post. AARTO makes provision for the assumption that a motorist will receive a notice within 10 days. Fleet manager René Venter told the meeting all their current disputes about AARTO infringements and offences had been referred to the RTMC. She said there were still no AARTO courts and that not a single AARTO case has been heard. Full Beeld report

The demerit system simply will not work, according to Willie Spies, a lawyer for civil rights group AfriForum. 'There are 282 municipalities in SA and the system is being piloted in only two ... and it's not working in those two, which are two of the best-functioning municipalities,' he is quoted as saying in a Business Day report. 'How is it going to work in the whole country,' Spies asked. The system will penalise people for doing the right thing, he said. A person who is issued a fine and pays it will still get a demerit. The system is being tested in Johannesburg and Tshwane. Spies added that the only way to try to stop the implementation was through the courts. 'We need to convince the High Court and the Constitutional Court to get government to go back and redraft the Bill. The best way to attack injustice is to get people together to join hands and fight.' Full Business Day report

However, the system has an upside, according to an analyst quoted in a report on the News24 site. Noting that new research suggests 76% of drivers commit traffic offences on a daily basis, road safety analyst Lawrence Barit said the planned demerit point system would dramatically curtail these infringements - highlighted in a BP Ultimate and the SA Automobile Association (AA) survey. Barit said that after drunken driving and fatigue, offences like skipping orange or red lights, not obeying yield signs and the disobeying of other road signs could be said to be the third largest cause of deaths on SA roads. 'Drivers don't realise the accumulative effect (of) millions of small offences on safety on SA roads. It is imperative for drivers to obey the rules of the road that are put in place to prevent accidents,' Barit said. But he said the government's planned demerit system would drastically reduce these infringements. 'The success of the demerit point system has been documented in countries such as Spain, where the system came into force in 2006,' Barit said. Full report on the News24 site