Problems at the road traffic infringement agency (RTIA) preventing it from functioning properly, makes it clear that the body will not be capable of dealing with a massive additional workload such as the e-toll fines, Adv. Anton Alberts, the FF Plus’ parliamentary spokesperson on Transport, says.
According to an online report on Moneyweb, millions of accounts for traffic fines which had to be sent out have now lapsed because the RTIA is in arrears with payments of its accounts at the Post Office. Adv. Alberts says a statutory institution which cannot even pay its account for postal services, can hardly be capable of being trusted with the adjudication of traffic offences.
RTIA is a body that is responsible for the administration of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO). The act is being implemented in Johannesburg and Pretoria at present, and the state has plans to implement it nationally.
According to Adv. Alberts, RTIA’s ineptness is making it fail and given this it is impossible to see how it will be made a national institution, or how it could also be used to enforce the e-toll service.
“Previous problems included the sending of AARTO notices by ordinary mail while registered mail is required by law. Furthermore, there is the fact that RTIA is short-staffed which leads to the institution not being capable of dealing with the thousands of violations being referred to them.
“AARTO is clearly a failed system, and there are still not any AARTO courts. This means that people are being prevented from exercising their constitutional rights of defending themselves in court.
“AARTO is furthermore a failed system as the test-phase in Johannesburg and Pretoria did not improve road safety, which was the main aim of AARTO, but it has instead become a breeding ground for corruption and abuse of power,” Adv. Alberts said.
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