Aarto demerit threshold ‘might be too harsh’
The Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) says the current proposed demerit points threshold of 12 might be increased when the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act is legislated in the next few weeks.
The agency’s registrar Japh Chuwe says there is a suggestion that the current demerit threshold might be too harsh.
“Very good motivation has been made for the increase of the demerit point threshold. There are only two proposals at the moment which looks at slightly increasing their threshold. I’m not at liberty to indicate what level the threshold is going to be.”
Chuwe says if a motorist reaches 12 demerits points their license will be suspended for a period of three months for every point that is above the threshold.
This means if a motorists has 14 demerit points, the license will be suspended for a period of 6 months.
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If a driver goes for three months without committing any driving violations, RITA will recognize that as good behavior and the driver will be rewarded by reducing one demerit point every three months.
A motorist will also be apply for one of the rehabilitation programmes if they want to speed up the reinstatement of their licence.
“Upon the completion of the driver rehabilitation program one would then reduce the demerit points at a quicker rate than normally would one demerit point at a time,” says Chuwa.
The opportunity will only be available once a year.
Current pending infringements committed by a driver before the rollout of the Aarto Act, will not automatically impact the driver’s demerit points, says Chuwa.
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