Government abandons plans to extend driving licence validity

The validity period of driving licences is to remain unchanged at five years and will not be increased to eight or 10 years in the foreseeable future.

This is despite former minister of transport Fikile Mbalula and current Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga previously indicating that the validity period was to be extended.

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In an exclusive interview with Moneyweb, both Chikunga and Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) CEO Makhosini Msibi confirmed that the proposal to extend the validity period to eight years was not presented to cabinet for approval.

Chikunga confirmed in August last year the proposal to extend the validity period would be presented to cabinet “soonest”.

At the time, she said the decision to increase the validity period was based on an investigation commissioned by Mbalula to determine the international trends in regard to the validity period of driving licences.

Mbalula confirmed in September 2022 that cabinet had approved the introduction of a new smart card driving licence in South Africa and the Department of Transport (DoT) had proposed to cabinet that the validity period of driving licences be extended from the current five years to between eight and 10 years.

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He said at the time that the DoT had consulted with the members of the executive (MECs) of transport in the various provinces about the extension of the validity period and “received full support for the review”.

Pre-renewal medical check-ups in the offing?

Msibi told Moneyweb a study was done to determine if there was a possibility and “good grounds” for extending the validity period of driving licences and claimed the argument was that the validity period “should be extended for 20 years or it should be timeless”.

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He said that “in terms of the situation that we find ourselves in South Africa”, the time frame deals “specifically with the health of the driver”.

He said this included the eye test to verify the vision of drivers.

But Msibi said the causes of a number of accidents are related to communicable diseases and other diseases, “so it remains critical that we maintain that process [the current validity period] until all these issues have been dealt with”.

Msibi confirmed the validity period of driving licences will remain five years for the foreseeable future.

He stressed that people are making a mistake in that “a driving licence never expires, just the validity of the card”.

He said the card expires because “the text” on the card also needs to change and “the state of health of the driver”.

“We have time to see whether you can still drive or you are still fit to drive. But if you are still a valid driver, it’s only the card that expires,” he said.

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Moneyweb has attempted without success over the past 10 days to clarify Msibi’s comments on driving licence renewals and communicable diseases and other diseases and if this will mean that motorists will in future also have to undergo a medical check-up before renewing their driving licence.

Extension would ‘benefit motorists’

Automobile Association (AA) spokesperson Layton Beard said the AA is obviously disappointed that a proposal to extend the validity of driving licences has not been presented to cabinet, adding that the AA had made several arguments for such an extension and why it is a practical solution and to the benefit of motorists.

Beard said extending the validity period of driving licences will resolve some of the delays in the past with issuing driving licence renewals.

“It is more in line with international standards,” he said.

Beard added that even if the driving licence validity period was increased to eight years, the driver could still be required to have an eye test that is performed by a registered optician who is linked to the traffic management system, which will allow the test to be uploaded onto the system.

“That has the added benefit of having a trained optician perform that eye test rather than a machine that may or may not be working at the time that person goes in to renew in a DLTC [Driving Licence Test Centre],” he said.

Beard declined to comment on Msibi’s comments about communicable diseases and other diseases.

Licences are ‘income for government’

He said the cost of a driving licence renewal is also an important issue, particularly for a lot of people who might not have that money and rely on having a driving licence for their work.

Beard did not want to speculate on the reasons for government backtracking on its proposal to extend the validity period but confirmed driving licence renewals are “an income for government”.

“Driving licences must be seen through the lens of what is going to be best for motorists and for the proper functioning of the system.

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“When we balance those two out, there is no disadvantage to the system of having a longer validity period.

“And if there is no disadvantage to the system of having a longer validity period but there is a major benefit to the motorists for having a longer validity period, then there is no reason why it should not be introduced,” he said.

Beard said there are no negative consequences for road safety by extending the validity period because road safety is not dependent on the fact that people have legal and valid licences.

He stressed that the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act and demerit points system is not being introduced because people have fake licences, but because people who currently have legal and valid licences are still committing road traffic offences.

‘Ludicrous’

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) CEO Wayne Duvenage said the decision to backtrack on the driving licence validity period was “ludicrous”, especially against the backdrop of all the administration and costs associated with the process.

Duvenage added that former minister of transport Dipuo Peters in 2013 already decreed and passed a regulation that would increase the validity period of driving licences to 10 years but then “for some unknown reason reversed the decision”.

“They get all the input from ourselves and others, they do their own research and decide they are going to extend it to eight years and then nothing happens,” he said.

“They are not taking seriously the pain and suffering and the costs that the consumer and people have to go through every time they have to renew.

“This signals how out of touch they are with the needs of the people and that they do not have sound research on which to base their decision.

“So they just allow the status quo to limp along, again the signs of a grossly inefficient government that is out of touch with people’s needs.

“I think it is a nice money-making scheme and it is a revenue issue for them [government] sometimes,” he said.

This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here