If the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act, which was signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week, goes into effect, a trip from Johannesburg to Pretoria will cost consumers without e-tags R1 000.
A R250 fine would be levied against motorists for for every gantry passed without an e-tag present.
Critics have slated this decision as:
- This legislation could be used to bully non-paying motorists into paying e-tolls
- Gauteng currently has a 70% non-compliance rate, meaning the burden of billing motorists would be onerous
- Approximately 1,49-million trips are taken on Gauteng’s tolled roads daily
- For every R500 fine received under the new Act, motorists will receive a demerit point
- Non-payment of fines could result in a three-year driving ban
- This would cause havoc with the country’s economy as people would lose jobs and small businesses may close
Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula has a deadline of Saturday 31 August to announce the future of the contentious tolling system.