Driving skills and road safety expert Rob Handfield-Jones argues that spending R1 billion on new card printers is a waste of money that won’t make roads safer or combat fraud and corruption.
South Africa should scrap its driving licence card and vehicle licence discs and replace them with digital-only permits that never expire.
“Such an app could almost certainly be developed and operationalised for a fraction of what is planned to be blown on the card printer.” “There is no technological or practical obstacle to digital licensing and enforcement,” he told MyBroadband. “It’s nonsense, but the government has somehow been permitted to advance a narrative that a driving licence is different to almost every other official document,” said Handfield-Jones. on extending the renewal period is that the Department of Transport did its sums and realised how much renewal fee revenue would be lost.”
“Today, a typical smartphone could achieve these functions at low cost, enabling simple roadside verification of both driving licences and vehicle licences too, which should also be digital,” said Handfield-Jones.Handfield-Jones is not the only one raising concerns about the new card machines.revealing that the cost of the new machines is far higher than initially expected.regarding the procurement of the new driving licence card machines before the transport department awarded the tender.
This includes the department repeatedly issuing, withdrawing, and reissuing the tender, as well as implementing three extensions of the price validity period.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Trouble brewing for South Africa’s new driving licence cardsAccording to the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, the original budget specified in the tender has almost doubled.
Read more »
Africa: Is China-Us Competition Driving the Africa Proposal in the UN?This week at U.N. meetings in New York, the United States said that two African countries should have permanent seats on one of the world's major decision-making bodies, the United Nations Security Council.
Read more »
Government Inaction Driving Up Private Healthcare Costs in South AfricaFive years after the Competition Commission’s Health Market Inquiry concluded, the government has yet to implement any of its recommendations, leading to escalating private healthcare costs and unaffordability for many citizens. The Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) has now called on the Competition Commission to respond to their application for an exemption from provisions of the Competition Act, which would allow medical schemes to collectively negotiate tariffs and make information public.
Read more »
South Africa spending R1 billion on new driving licence card machinesTransport Minister Barbara Creecy also revealed that the country’s current machine has cost more than R21 million to repair and maintain over five years.
Read more »
The publication driving success for South Africa’s top-performing companiesMyBroadband reaches an impressive 4.7 million readers every month and achieves over 15 million page views.
Read more »
South Africa’s driving licence card disasterThe Minister of Transport has revealed how many times South Africa’s only driver’s licence card printer has broken down.
Read more »