AARTO in Its Present Form Must Go

Statement by Robin Carlisle, Minister of Transport and Public Works

I welcome the decision by the Automobile Association (AA) to add their weight to the many calls to completely scrap AARTO in its present form and under its totally dysfunctional and incompetent management.

Two years ago, I stated categorically that AARTO will not be implemented in this province and that if necessary we would oppose its imposition in court. I have raised this matter in many meetings with the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and formally requested the National Minister of Transport to scrap both AARTO and the RTMC as a matter of urgency.

The initial implementation of AARTO in Tshwane and Johannesburg was a disaster, and the post-mortem ordered by the Minister has still not been published.

The principles of adjudicative management of certain road offences, as well as the institution of a driver’s licence demerit system, have considerable merit. The administering entities have, however, made a complete hash of this system and are now subsequently broke and without resources.

To implement AARTO in its present form will seriously impair our country’s already poorly functioning road safety systems. We need to get back to the basics of safe roads, safe drivers, safe speeds and safe cars, and keep the focus firmly on changing behaviour and attitudes towards safe and responsible road use. In the Western Cape, we are way ahead of all the other provinces in this regard, but we still all have a long way to go.