IMPLEMENTATION of the Administrative Adjudication of the Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act will be delayed for a couple of months, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) said today (June 30).

RTMC acting chief executive officer Collins Letsoalo said law enforcement officers’ role in the World Cup had hampered preparations for the implementation of the project.

He denied the RTMC had bowed to pressure to postpone, particularly from the Western Cape, which threatened to seek an urgent interdict to stop implementation.

Aarto was to have been introduced in Ekurhuleni, Ethekwini, Nelson Mandela Bay and the City of Cape Town on July 1.

It is already in operation in Tshwane and Johannesburg.

“It will continue like that,” said Letsoalo, who said the postponement should not be seen as a deviation from the government’s commitment to promoting road safety.

He said the delay would be about two or three months, and that Aarto would be implemented during this financial year. – Sapa