/ 14 November 2010

Union to march against traffic demerit system

The SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) plans to embark on a march next week to oppose the implementation of government’s new traffic demerit system, the union said on Saturday.

The march was expected to be held in Pretoria on Tuesday and would start in Marabastad and conclude at the Union Buildings.

“On this day Satawu will be submitting a memorandum of demands to the president of the republic [Jacob Zuma] in support of our campaign to have AARTO [Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act] legislation repealed,” Satawu’s Gauteng chairperson Ephraim Mphahlele said.

The union said it appreciated the fact that the government wanted to implement the system in an attempt to minimise road accidents.

However, Mphahlele said AARTO would threaten the jobs of Satawu members by suspending and nullifying their driving licences.

“To this end, tens of thousands of Satawu members and many more workers who rely on driving licences to eke out a living, let alone for financially supporting their respective families are destined to be dealt a fatal blow, whenever their respective licences are suspended or withdrawn.”

The system penalises drivers with demerit points for traffic offences.

‘Exacerbate unemployment rate’
Once a driver has accumulated 12 demerit points, his or her driver’s licence would be suspended for three months. The licence would be revoked on the third suspension.

“Satawu holds a strong view that AARTO will only exacerbate unemployment rate and cause unwarranted social problems amongst our people, a phenomenon that our country can ill-afford in the backdrop of the devastating global recession,” the union said.

Instead of implementing AARTO, the government could use other interventions to minimise road accidents.

These included more visible traffic policing on all major roads and at accident hot-spots.

The installation of traffic lights where more accidents occur and criminalising reckless driving could also alleviate the problem, the union suggested.

The union called on the ANC, its alliance partners the South African Communist Party, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and other organisations to join it in its campaign against the system.

The campaign would start in Gauteng and then move to other provinces.

“This will culminate in a national transport shutdown,” said Mphahlele.

The system was currently being used on a trial basis in Johannesburg and Pretoria. – Sapa