Traffic depts deal the cards

2003-11-06 22:29

Ziegfried Ekron

Cape Town - There is a new furore raging about the credit-card driver's licences - the traffic departments that issued them won't accept them for identification purposes.

Millions of motorists who had to convert their identity document licences to card licences earlier this year, have to take their identity documents with them when they visit the traffic department.

Lisa Mangcu, manager of road traffic management, said on Thursday an amendment to the Road Traffic Act excluded card licences as a valid form of identification.

"A driver's licence is a driver's licence and not intended to replace the identity document.

"If you want to make a transaction at the traffic department, you have to be able to identify yourself."

Portable checking devices

Asked whether motorists would have to have their IDs with them on the road to identify themselves to traffic officers, Mangcu said: "It's not necessary to identify yourself when driving."

The department of transport plans to introduce portable devices for traffic officers by the end of the year, which will allow them to check drivers' details and past offences.

The devices will scan the barcode on the back of the card licence and compare the licence details with a central database.

The card licences can apparently not be used for identification purposes because they list only the drivers' initials and surname, and not the full names.

Mangcu said there were no plans to re-issue licences.

- Die Burger