Traffic dept joins 21st century

2007-04-04 21:22

Johannesburg - Traffic information will be managed online from mid-April, says the transport department.

The change-over to the electronic system will start on Thursday and be officially launched by Transport Minister Jeff Radebe on April 17, according to spokesperson Ntau Letebele.

He said the existing national traffic information system (Natis) records vehicle registration and licensing; records and manages the licensing of drivers and learner drivers; circulates details of stolen vehicles and records SA Bureau of Standards safety decisions.

It administers R3bn a year and is used at more than 1 753 sites throughout the country, doing about 40 000 transactions every hour.

However, said Letebele, it was now 14 years old and had "severe technical limitations" when it came to the department's strategic plan.

Online vehicle registration

The new, electronic system (e-Natis) would include enhanced law-enforcement capabilities and would allow people to do transactions via the internet. People could use ATMs instead of physically visiting traffic departments, for example.

It also would smooth and improve adjudication of the road traffic offences system, and enable online vehicle registration by financial institutions.

Letebele said: "The new driving licence booking system will validate examiners, testing centres and appointments, and prevent unscrupulous officials from extorting money from the public in order to obtain drivers licence appointments."

He said people in the industry had been consulted and briefed on the system, with a small-scale dry run in December and a national trial in March.

Letebele cautioned that the system might be available only for enquiries for a couple of days during the change-over, before going "live" in a test phase on April 13.

- SAPA