Info programme will get drivers ‘Aarto-ready’

The Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act will be implemented once every South African has been informed of the new legislation and is ready for it, Collins Letsoalo, acting chief executive officer of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), said. Addressing the monthly Transport Forum in Johannesburg last week, Letsoalo said the Act, which was to have been implemented in South Africa on April 1 this year, had been piloted in Tshwane and Johannesburg. “There is no mystery about these pilot projects,” he said. “The pilots found that the law enforcement officers and the systems needed were not ready for the roll-out of Aarto.” He said it was important to ensure the public was aware and ready for Aarto. “Since the launch of the pilots we have trained our officers and we have worked on our systems. Now it is only the public that remains.” Letsoalo said in this regard a country-wide educational programme would be launched in June this year for a period of at least three to six months to inform South Africans about Aarto, how it would work and its impact. “Once we have completed this process we will roll it out nationally.” According to Letsoalo, the findings of the pilots have been distributed to Nedlac and they are awaiting comment from the organisation. “There are no secrets. The pilots are ongoing and we have learnt lessons from that. We are happy to share that with everyone.”