/ 30 March 2007

Stringent new licence tests for drivers

Learner drivers should prepare themselves for a long wait to get their licences, Independent Online reported on Friday.

With stringent new measures being introduced at testing stations, only 15% of applicants for driver’s licences can expect to pass the test the first time.

This will bring about thousands of repeat tests, which will add to the existing backlogs at test centres across the country.

This was revealed by Ismail Amod, project manager of P Cubed, the IT company that installed the new electronic equipment at the centres.

He said since the installation of the system in KwaZulu-Natal, the pass rate had dropped from 50% to 15%.

The pilot system at Langlaagte will be launched by Transport Minister Jeff Radebe on Friday.

The Tshwane testing centre will also start operating electronically from Friday.

The new system will be rolled out at other testing centres at a rate of one every two weeks throughout the province. It will be launched in Ekurhuleni in May.

Learner drivers will no longer write exams — they will do them on a touch-screen computer. The applicants will be fingerprinted and photographed digitally when they apply.

”It is foolproof. At every stage there is identification through a fingerprint machine,” Amod said.

Regarding the test, he said: ”The examiners will explain to applicants how to use the screen. The test results are issued immediately after the test and it is impossible for the examiner to tamper with, or change, the result, as they will not have access to the main computer system.”

The department is formulating 400 new questions to put on to the electronic tests for learner drivers. – Sapa