AARTO Frequently Asked Questions.
The most commonly asked questions posed to us
Below is a list of some of the most frequently asked questions that are posed to us. Click on the question and the answer will be displayed. Click on it again to re-hide the answer.
Forgive us for appearing to insult your intelligence, but can't you read?
This site is run by Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) which is a non-profit, civil rights organisation, not one of the traffic authorities or the RTMC.
Not that it would make much difference if you were on the RTMC's website anyway since they too do not provide this facility. If you want to find your AARTO fines then please refer to the next question and answer and please avoid asking us to look up your fines for you based on your ID number and/or number plate.
No, you cannot!
This facility has never been available on our website or that of the RTMC. However, there is a place that you can go to pay your AARTO fines and that is payCity (not payfine). They accept monies on behalf of the participants in AARTO, including the JMPD, TMPD and Provincial Traffic Departments.
We do just wish to point out that if your fine is for a camera-based infringement, it seems nonsensical to simply pay if there is no photograph available, doesn't it? If this is the case, you should request one from the relevant authority.
We also wish to point out that the second you pay an infringement notice, the associated demerit-points will be allocated to your driving licence when the points-demerit system comes into play.
AARTO makes no provision for the reduction in the penalty (fine) amount due to your circumstances. The authors of the Act (presumably because money is no obstacle in their lives) made provision for a number of "options" under the Act, namely applying for credit to pay your fines off or making a representation.
If you apply to pay your fine/s off in installments then your forfeit the discount and have to pay the entire fine off in installments. This is not a maybe, it is a legislated provision.
If you elect to make a representation, the only two options open to the "representations officer" are to reject your representation or accept it and withdraw the entire infringement notice.
Even if you are the most indigent person on the planet, you will get no sympathy or leniency from the purveyors of AARTO. They don't care who they bankrupt.
The AARTO Act makes provision for the tripling of penalty amounts when infringement notices are made out to juristic persons such as companies, trusts, etc.
This provision is however linked to the points-demerit system and it is our standpoint and that of our legal counsel that the JMPD has applied the provision 12 months prior to the proposed proclamation of section 24 of the AARTO regulations, which applies to points-demerits.
However, juristic persons are not the only entities that have been affected by the JMPD's misapplication of the legislation. People who have vehicle register certificates (because they hold or held foreign ID or driving licences) have also been hit by them since the JMPD does not appear to understand what the definition of a juristic person is.
In addition, those with foreign driving licences are told that their fines are also payable at three times the penalty amount and their infringement notices are automatically issued with the tripled fine values, where there is no provision in the Act for this.
This practice is unlawful in the extreme since the AARTO Act only makes provision for the forfeiture of the discount where a person holds a foreign driving licence, presumably because it is thought by the authors of AARTO that South Africa's constitution applies only to SA citizens, but that is it.
If businesses, large and small alike were to stand with us in challenging these matters in court, we could have this sorted out very quickly, however there is very little chance that this would ever happen since businesses seem to think they have traffic fines licked by simply deducting them from their drivers' salaries.
You have also probably received a lot of emails that tell you that you have won GBP £1,000,000 in the UK lottery that you never entered or a BlackBerry that is being given away to everyone who forwards this email.
Presumably you believe that too? Please people, no matter how legitimate the source may look to be, it is only by proclamation in the Government Gazette that any provisions of legislation can be brought into effect. Do not believe everything that is emailed to you and always check the source for legitimacy before forwarding email chainletters.
Just because an email has a graphic depicting a law firm's logo does not mean it is true and just because seemingly legitimate people are behind those emails does not mean that they know anything about it.
When the points-demerit system comes into force, it will be big news in all of the papers and on all of the stations, so don't think that the Minister of Extort (er... Transport) will miss the opportunity to make it known that you now stand to lose your driving licence. This date still remains 1 April 2011.