There is a plethora of road traffic legislation in South Africa, namely:
- The National Road Traffic Act, (Act 93 of 1996);
- The National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000;
- The National Land Transport Act, (Act 5 of 2009);
- The Cross Border Land Transport Act, (Act 4 of 1998);
- The South African National Roads Agency Limited and National Roads Act, (Act 7 of 1998);
- Various Municipal and Provincial Road Traffic Bylaws; and
- The Road Transport Act, (Act 29 of 1989)*
As is usual with legislation, none of the aforementioned legislation regulates the manner in which offences which are committed in terms of the relevant Act are prosecuted, and therefore it is important to note that the following legislation is used to prosecute such offences:
- The Criminal Procedure Act, (Act 51 of 1977); or
- The Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act, (Act 46 of 1998).
Where to get copies of legislation.
Free resources
All of the above national legislation is available at the SA Government website, however, we must warn you that since legislation is often amended, what you get from that website can be very outdated and piecing the various amendments together can be a laborious task.
For provincial legislation and municipal bylaws, you will need to consult the website of the appropriate provincial government or local municipality.
Commercial resources
Your task could be made a lot easier by using one of the commercial enterprises that provide consolidated versions of legislation, amongst whom are:
The services above vary in just how up to date they are with the currently applicable legislation, but share one thing in common. None of them are what could be described as cheap.
