QUOTE
Road hogs, drunk drivers and other traffic offenders will run the risk of having their licences endorsed or even confiscated in a matter of months.
After years of talking about a demerit system, traffic authorities are now poised to start the crackdown which will see South African drivers, like their counterparts in many other countries, running the risk of losing their driving licences should they not keep to the straight and narrow.
First in line to feel the bite are motorists on some of the busiest roads - in Pretoria and Johannesburg. A pilot demerit project is expected to begin there in June.
But authorities in KwaZulu-Natal, who were left reeling by reckless holiday traffic, are champing at the bit to join and have called for a demerit system in their province by May.
The rest of the country could follow suit before the end of this year.
Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) chief executive officer Ranthoko Rakgoale said this week that the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) pilot project in Gauteng was to begin by June or even earlier.
Rakgoale said an official announcement would be made by Transport Minister Jeff Radebe.
The system will see offenders not only paying fines but running the risk of losing points from a starting total of 12 on their licences. This penalty approach was first mooted in 1998.
The Transport Department's senior executive manager for traffic law enforcement, Thabo Tsholetsane, said the process had taken so long because a "paradigm shift" on how things were done had been needed.
He said it was important to be able to implement the legislation - which is essentially a complete overhaul of the current penalty system - without flouting the Bill of Rights.
Outlining the system, Rakgoale said that for "principle purposes" each driver would be issued with 12 driving points. Each penalty - for instance driving while drunk - would come with a certain penalty point deduction.
"For instance, driving under the influence of liquor might be six points. So as soon as you are arrested and you are found guilty then it's 12 minus six and you are left with six. Driving with a defective vehicle might cost you one point," he said.
"Now if you accumulate all points up to the maximum of 12 then obviously your driver's licence will have to be suspended."
Drivers would be able to earn back points to get themselves out of the danger zone. Penalties could be erased if the offending driver did not incur more demerits within three-month intervals.
"For every three months you don't misbehave, one penalty point is erased. So it would take you 18 months to clear the six-point penalty incurred for drunk driving," he said.
After years of talking about a demerit system, traffic authorities are now poised to start the crackdown which will see South African drivers, like their counterparts in many other countries, running the risk of losing their driving licences should they not keep to the straight and narrow.
First in line to feel the bite are motorists on some of the busiest roads - in Pretoria and Johannesburg. A pilot demerit project is expected to begin there in June.
But authorities in KwaZulu-Natal, who were left reeling by reckless holiday traffic, are champing at the bit to join and have called for a demerit system in their province by May.
The rest of the country could follow suit before the end of this year.
Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) chief executive officer Ranthoko Rakgoale said this week that the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) pilot project in Gauteng was to begin by June or even earlier.
Rakgoale said an official announcement would be made by Transport Minister Jeff Radebe.
The system will see offenders not only paying fines but running the risk of losing points from a starting total of 12 on their licences. This penalty approach was first mooted in 1998.
The Transport Department's senior executive manager for traffic law enforcement, Thabo Tsholetsane, said the process had taken so long because a "paradigm shift" on how things were done had been needed.
He said it was important to be able to implement the legislation - which is essentially a complete overhaul of the current penalty system - without flouting the Bill of Rights.
Outlining the system, Rakgoale said that for "principle purposes" each driver would be issued with 12 driving points. Each penalty - for instance driving while drunk - would come with a certain penalty point deduction.
"For instance, driving under the influence of liquor might be six points. So as soon as you are arrested and you are found guilty then it's 12 minus six and you are left with six. Driving with a defective vehicle might cost you one point," he said.
"Now if you accumulate all points up to the maximum of 12 then obviously your driver's licence will have to be suspended."
Drivers would be able to earn back points to get themselves out of the danger zone. Penalties could be erased if the offending driver did not incur more demerits within three-month intervals.
"For every three months you don't misbehave, one penalty point is erased. So it would take you 18 months to clear the six-point penalty incurred for drunk driving," he said.
Source
I like this, but would like to see it enforced on goons on the highways, who are REALLY a problem.
The following people should be heavily penalised:
1. People who don't indicate when changing lanes (almost saw an M5 go into a Mazda 323 this morning, because the goon in the 323 just decided to change lanes without indicating, and from the looks of it, even checking his blind-spot).
2. Motor cyclists who swerve around on the highway, in between cars (I almost took one out of the game the other day).
3. People who drive drunk, WITH kids in the car.
4. Taxi drivers who overload the taxis, AND speed on the highways.
5. Bus drivers who go 120 km/h+ on the highways, when they have big markers on the bus which show that 100 km/h is the maximum speed that they should be going.
And if I ruled the world, people who move into your lane, knowing full well that they are going much slower, thus causing you to slow down behind them from a decent speed that you were traveling.
