THE LOWDOWN ON THE AARTO ACT
IT WAS meant to make South African roads safer by punishing drivers who consistently broke the law. Demerit after demerit would be issued until a motorist would lose their licence and they’d be off the road and no longer a danger to society.
It makes sense in a country where 14 000 people die every year due to road accidents that authorities would want to do what they can to make things safer.
Yet the roll-out of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act – the law designed to do just that – has been basically a car crash, experts say. By many accounts,
