DoT set to increase driving licence validity period

The Department of Transport (DoT) has proposed to cabinet that the validity period of driving licences be extended from the current five years to between eight and 10 years.

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula confirmed this on Friday when he announced that cabinet has approved the introduction of a new smart card driving licence in South Africa.

Mbalula said the DoT has consulted with members of the executive committees of transport in the various provinces about the proposed  extension and “received full support for the review”.

He said the decision will be communicated once cabinet has made a final determination on the submission and the suggested renewal period.

He said the review of the licence renewal period follows an earlier commitment to do so, adding that those who have been calling for a review “should be happy with the exercise we are undertaking”.

Hoping for 10 years

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) CEO Wayne Duvenage welcomed the announcement, saying it indicates that Mbalula has taken note of the recommendations and suggestions made by civil society.

“We would hope that it is extended to 10 years, but between eight and 10 years is a vast improvement on five years,” he said.

However, Duvenage questioned why the DoT has referred it to cabinet for approval.

Duvenage said Outa believes it is within Mbalula’s powers to make these changes as amendments were in the past made by former transport minister Dipuo Peters.

Automobile Association (AA) spokesperson Layton Beard also welcomed the proposed amendment, adding that it is an indication of the power of civil society organisations – which have been asking for this for a long time – and proves that “at some stage your voice will be heard”.

Beard said a 10-year validity period for driving licences is internationally recognised, will ease a lot of the congestion on the system, and give the DoT time to fully roll out whatever changes it is planning.

“The only caveat that needs to be in place is that an eye test must be performed and submitted every five years for it still to be valid,” said Beard.

Mbalula said research on driving licence validity periods was undertaken by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), which also undertook a benchmarking exercise covering 64 countries.

He said the research revealed that countries ranked above South Africa according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) have an average driving licence card validity period of 9.3 years and those ranked lower than SA averaged 4.4 years.

“It needs to be highlighted that many of the poorer road safety-ranked countries are still using paper-based driving licences, which would explain the lower average validity period in these countries.

“The average driving licence card validity period of almost 10 years is applicable in developed countries, with much better road safety ratios than South Africa,” said Mbalula.

“This is an important factor in validating a longer renewal period in line with international best practice. Most of the EU countries have a five-year validity period for heavy vehicles,” he added.

Smart card approved

Mbalula also announced that cabinet has approved the replacement of the current driving licence card with a new card, with more secure design features that will comply with the international driving licence standard.

He said the current driving licence card was introduced in 1998, with the production equipment procured in the same year, and that this technology is now obsolete.

“We will publish the changes to the driving licence card in the government gazette. This will then enable us to commence with the procurement process for the new production infrastructure in October 2022.”

Mbalula added that:

• The new card will be piloted from 1 November 2023 until 31 March 2024;
• The current driving licence card and the equipment used to produce it will be decommissioned on 1 April 2024;
• There will be a five-year period of transition from the old card to the new; and
• Current cards will be recognised as valid driving licence cards until 31 March 2029.

Mbalula added that funds for the new driving licence are available and “it’s not going to eat the pocket of the motorist”.

“You [motorists] have given us a lot over the years,” he said.

“In terms of the new card, we are not looking at taxing people to upgrade. I can give you that particular assurance.”

Smoother renewals process

Mbalula also provided an update on the performance of driving licence renewals at Driving Licence Test Centres and the production of the cards.

He said not only is the turnaround time for card production back down to pre-Covid-19 levels but the waiting period for collection of a driving licence card improved from 58 working days in April to 10 working days in July.

In addition, a smart enrolment solution is being introduced to improve the service to motorists and reduce turnaround times at the centres.

Read: Driving licence renewal process descends into further chaos

Mbalula said this solution has been successfully piloted at the Waterfall and Eco-Park Centurion DLTCs and that Gauteng will be the first to go live in March 2023, before full deployment to other provinces.

Wayward motorists warned

The DoT remains concerned at the high number of people who have yet to renew their expired driving licences, which currently stands at 1.2 million, said Mbalula.

Read: DoT: No further extension to the driving licence renewal grace period [Mar 2022]

“The implications of this is that we have a sizeable number of motorists driving without a valid driving licence on our roads. This goes against the grain of our efforts to arrest carnage on our roads.

“We will therefore up the ante in our law enforcement efforts to bring to book these wayward motorists who have no regard for the law or the safety of others on the road.

“Our investigations have revealed that the vast majority of those who are not renewing their licences have infringements,” he said.

RTMC CEO CEO Makhosini Msibi said infringements will not be written off and it is going to unleash enforcement initiatives against all those who have infringements.

Msibi said people with infringements are coming forward, and acknowledging the infringements and their willingness to pay, but suggested they must be allowed to pay them in instalments.

“That window has opened,” he said.

‘Up the ante’ – how?

However, Beard questioned how the DoT will “up the ante” in terms of enforcement.

He said the Traffic Law Enforcement Review Committee report commissioned by the previous minister of transport in 2019 found that SA needs to double the number of traffic law enforcers.

“We simply don’t have enough traffic law enforcers on our roads and you see that in the number of crashes and fatalities and the general road safety levels,” he said.

“Legislation is not going to solve that problem. You can’t legislate yourself out of problem that requires boots on the ground.”