AARTO Amendment Bill: Gauteng public hearings

The Gauteng Provincial Legislature is holding public hearings on the AARTO Amendment Bill, 2015 at three venues around Gauteng in the coming weeks. Apparently, a fourth hearing took place at Springs Civic Centre yesterday, but obviously, it’s too late for anyone to attend that hearing.

The dates and venues are as follows and all public hearings commence at 16:00:

No email address has been provided for written submissions but since the chairperson of the Roads and Transport Portfolio Committee at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature is apparently Mr. M. Mgcina, we are assuming that written submissions may be addressed to him via the Committee’s coordinator, who appears to be Mr Sithembiso Mthiyane, and whose email address is [email protected].

This is the very last opportunity for motorists in Gauteng to provide their inputs and express their concerns with the Bill which primarily seeks to migrate traffic fines completely out of the jurisdiction of the courts and into a purely administrative system where motorists are presumed to be guilty from the second a traffic fine is issued. A points-demerit system also forms a small part of the AARTO Act.

JPSA encourages anyone who holds a driving licence and/or is the registered owner of a motor vehicle to take the time to read the AARTO Amendment Bill and participate in the public hearings. A copy of the Bill and an easy to understand summary of its more salient points is available at www.aarto.co.za.