South Africa’s new Administrative Adjudication of Traffic Offences Act (AARTO) will not work if it is not well managed and applied in a consistent, transparent manner, says Intelligent Transport Society of South Africa CEO Dr Paul Vorster.

In its essence, AARTO is “a good idea, but the devil is in the implementation”, he adds, as it makes use of licence demerit points as a deterrent, as opposed to fines only.

“A R20 000 fine is nothing to a guy who can afford a Ferrari, but the threat of losing his licence through demerit points has the ability to change behaviour – which is what is required when considering that South Africa has the third-worst road safety record in the world. We need to shift the emphasis towards road safety and compliance. A total relook at the technology base of AARTO is required."

Vorster notes that corruption among traffic officers asking for bribes and those South Africans willing to pay them has created a problem for the country.

“If the same law is not applied in a consistent manner to everyone, then we end up in a situation where no-one abides by it. This is one reason for the country’s bad road safety record.”

Vorster believes intelligent transport systems (ITS) can help resolve the problem of corruption and compliance in the AARTO system.

He says the South African traffic system can deploy more speed cameras, for example, as opposed to officers pulling motorists over at freeways and city roads and intersections. This ‘manual’ system is open to abuse, as opposed to a digital system that minimises bribes and interference in the legal process.

“We can also ensure a digital chain of evidence when processing fines of any kind, which cannot be touched by a traffic officer or any member of the public,” says Vorster.

It is also possible to conduct law enforcement on average speed travelled between two points, rather than only at one point, which often feels unfair to motorists if they, perhaps, at that point passed a large truck, or travelled downhill.

“This would also ensure that longer tracts of freeways are policed, and made safer by the fact that there is no large speed differential between vehicles,” explains Vorster.

Another technology that can be used with great success is variable message boards that are linked to detection cameras. Placing these at schools, for example, could single out vehicles by their individual licence plates, telling them to ‘slow down’, or ‘be careful’, flashing their speed at the driver and his/her fellow motorists to see.

“The emphasis is to get the driver to reduce speed by making him/her aware of an unsafe speed close to a school,” notes Vorster.

Such signboard systems can also be used to change speed limits should the road environment change, such as in the case of rain and mist.

“We need to bring credibility back into the traffic law enforcement system,” summarises Vorster. “ITS is able to ensure this is done by returning consistency into the system. Without this, AARTO will remain flawed.”