Government announces start date for driving licence demerits
The national implementation of the long-delayed system was gazetted on Friday when President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the proclamation.
The first phase will be rolled out on December 1 in 69 municipalities, with the remaining 144 municipalities to follow on April 1 2026.
The demerit points system comes into effect countrywide on September 1 2026.
The points demerit system is not operational yet anywhere in the country, including in Johannesburg and Tshwane where Aarto has been piloted for more than 12 years.
Aarto is the government's plan to replace the existing criminal system with an administrative one. With Aarto, drivers will lose points for offences and face suspension or cancellation of their licences if they lose too many, in addition to any fine.
The controversial act, originally passed into law in 1998, has been delayed numerous times and affected by legal disputes.
In July 2023 the Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the government's plan to introduce a demerit system for traffic offenders, overturning an earlier high court ruling that had declared Aarto unconstitutional and invalid.
The challenge was brought by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), an outspoken critic of Aarto which said the new system, rather than improving road safety, would impose an undue burden on motorists, especially those who rely on driving for their livelihoods.
Outa and the AA both argued that the new law would make it easier for authorities to make money from traffic fines but won't rid the roads of dangerous drivers without proper enforcement, an area where traffic authorities have failed given the country's appalling road safety record. South Africa's road deaths average more than 10,000 a year and the cost of road crashes to the economy topped R1-trillion over the past seven years.
The government maintains Aarto will be a vital tool in strengthening laws for road traffic compliance and making roads safer. It replaces the country's fragmented traffic enforcement, with different municipalities having their own bylaws.
The core of Aarto is a demerit system where points are allocated for infringements, which will lead to driver's licence suspension or cancellation if too many points are accumulated.
The act aims to streamline the process for adjudicating road traffic infringements by replacing courts with the Road Traffic Infringement Authority (RTIA), which is now responsible for managing the process. Aarto also allows for electronic service of notices and documents, establishing an appeals tribunal to hear appeals against decisions of the RTIA and removes the option of electing to be tried in court for an infringement.
RTIA spokesperson Monde Mkalipi said: 'Aarto looks at promoting a culture of voluntary compliance, [where drivers] are ... mindful there will be consequences if they fail to change their behaviour. And these consequences are going to happen faster in that your licence will be suspended or taken away, and you'll not be able to drive.'
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