The Department of Transport and the Road Traffic Management Corporation are evaluating South Africa’s current speed limits.
Department of Transport spokesperson Ayanda Allie-Paine Speaking to the Weekend Argus, said the plan could see the baseline top speeds all over the country’s roads reduced by 20km/h.
This would definitely drop the speed limit on the country’s highways from 120km/h to 100km/h, while the top speeds on main roads would drop from 100km/h to 80km/h.
Speeds in domestic areas would decrease from 60km/h to 40km/h.
“Our road safety strategy has analyzed all these factors. The legislation is being evaluated to address and bring in place a structure of various interventions to respond appropriately to the difficulty that South Africa is facing,” Allie-Paine said.
“Among these, a review of the international most excellent practice on speed reductions, as is the situation in countries such as Sweden and Australia.
“Due to the unprecedented situation in South Africa, these cannot just be fulfilled without an impact assessment study,” she said.
Demerit system
The proposed review of speed limits begins after President Cyril Ramaphosa approved the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act into law in August 2019 – beginning a new demerit system for South African drivers.
However, not all infringements will carry demerit-points with roughly half of the infringements considered in schedule 3 of the Aarto regulations carrying no demerit points at all.
While the points and fines will likely change as the system adjusts for a national roll-out, the tables below give an overview of how the points may be allocated as currently set out by the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA):
