Let's Talk About the Pleasures of Motoring, or Shall we Call it the Pains?
Willem le Roux
I do the mundane tasks for business and private vehicle owners to maintain their vehicle & driving license card renewals as well as traffic fine payments and administration, saving them time, frustration and money.
AARTO and demerit points. Debunking some of the myths.
Recently I received a notice regarding AARTO and the demerit points. There seems to be a lot of confusion and myths. The notice stated that the AARTO Amendment Act 4 of 2019 and demerit points system came into effect on 1 July 2024. And that all fines will block vehicle and license transactions.
This is incorrect. Currently we are waiting for the published Regulations to be signed off, and a final implementation date to be published. Until that happens, it is status quo.
Allow me to expand on demerit points. It is a lot less scary than most people think.
Every body, whether a natural person, or a company will start on zero points. Points will accumulate as infringements are incurred.
Let us look at individuals first: for a speed of 11-12 and 13-14 kph above the speed limit there is no demerit point allocation. Demerit point allocation starts from 15-16 kph above the speed limit. One point and increases to six from there.
The demerit point/s are allocated to the ID number of the individual.
The maximum allowable amount of demerit points for any person is 15. For every point above 15, the person’s driving license will be suspended for 3 months. If you have 18 points, that is 3 above 15, so the suspension will be 9 months.
If the person behaves and incurs NO infringements in a 3-month period after the last infringement, 1 demerit point is recovered.
For a company, whether an operator, where the vehicle requires a double disc, or not, slightly different rules apply. Demerit points are always allocated, no freebies as for an individual and it is allocated to the vehicle. The reason is that the National Road Traffic Act clearly states that the driver of the vehicle should be nominated as responsible for the fine, the company should not pay the fine. Demerit points will follow the driver nominated, and once again the lowest 2 fines will carry no demerit points for the driver nominated.
The same 15 points threshold applies to vehicles. For every point above 15 the vehicle license will be suspended for 3 months. In this suspension period the vehicle may not be used, advertised, or sold. The same points recovery applies for an individual.
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Two practical examples of how this may work. Johnny works for XYZ and uses his own vehicle for business and leisure. Johnny always drives a smidge faster than he should and as such receives quite a lot of fines. All the fines are for 11 kph above the speed limit or 14 kph above the speed limit. And every fine is around R700 or R900. Johnny always pays the fine within the 32-day limit and gets 50% off, so pays R400 or R500. I know this may seem confusing as the math does not make sense. All fines will carry a R100 admin penalty which will not be discounted.
The severity of the fines is such that no demerit points are allocated to Johnny’s ID. So even though Johnny received fifteen fines in 9 months, he has Zero demerits against his name. However, if Johnny drove only 2 kph faster in each case, his driving license will be suspended and he may not drive. Severe penalties applies if Johnny is caught driving with a suspended license.
Pete works for ABC, an uses a company vehicle. Management is ignorant as far as AARTO is concerned and does not nominate Pete as responsible for the fines. Pete drives in a s comparable way to Johnny. The company pays the fines within 32 days and receives 50% discount, just like Johnny, and deducts the cost from Pete’s salary. After 6 months an AARTO Notice arrives to state that the vehicle license is suspended for 6 months. The license disc must be removed from the vehicle and handed in at the local licensing office.
If Pete were nominated as responsible for the fines, the company would still be able to use their vehicle, and Pete would still be able to drive.
The table below shows demerit points allocated for the severity of AARTO infringements.
Demerit points are allocated at the time of payment or when an Enforcement order is issued.
This is a basic explanation for the demerit points. Contact the writer for more detail in this regard.
Willem le Roux 0834424663 or willem@willemleroux.com