The National Traffic Information System (eNatis) is reliable enough to serve the Gauteng e-tolling project, says IT company Tasima.
When vehicles pass under gantries for the open road tolling system and the registration is attained, eNatis will be used to identify the owner of the vehicle so they can be billed accordingly.
However, the eNatis system has come under heavy criticism in the past. The traffic system had a troubled start when it first got off the ground in 2007. The service has since had a bad reputation, with downtime at licensing centres blamed on the solution.
At a cursory level, eNatis is SA's national source of road-traffic-related information.
Tasima has an active five-year contract to eNatis on behalf of the Department of Transport, which will end in May 2015.
Reliable misnomer
Tasima CEO Tebogo Mphuti says eNatis is more than ready to handle the interaction with the e-toll project.
He adds that the poor reputation of the system is no longer justified. “We want to demystify this. We have an SLA [service level agreement] with the department to say there must be 99.9% availability of the system and we have done that for the past five years. We haven't had to pay a single penalty fee.”
Mphuti says previous problems with the system were because of the Telkom line being down but the CEO says this has been corrected through redundancy.
“We now have Telkom, Neotel, MTN and Vodacom infrastructure, so if one goes down it switches over to the other.”
“The current issue is a personnel one. They say the system is down when there is no system problem.” The CEO says managers of the driver's licence testing centres put up signs saying the system is down when they want to have staff meetings.
“The system must be available 24 hours a day so there isn't even a shut down time. If the system is down, SARS can't do enquiries, police can't check if vehicles are stolen, and banks can't process credit applications so the system can never be down. There's never the concept of the system being down. It's a misnomer.”
Aarto ready
Tasima developed the systems required for the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act, which will also interface with eNatis.
“Aarto is ready. It's just a matter of when the minister decides to gazette it. There's no technical reason for the Aarto delay. It's ready and can be switched on. We suspect the reason for the delay is interest group and political issues.”
The Road Traffic Management Corporation, which will be managing Aarto, previously said an implementation date has not yet been set.
This is because there needs to be public consultation and engagement with stakeholders first to avoid a situation similar to the one plaguing the e-tolling system, where toll fees were announced with no public engagement and then suspended due to outrage over the prices and system, as a whole.
With the Aarto system, drivers gain demerit points when they commit traffic offences and this will be reflected on the National Contravention Register on eNatis. After 12 points are gained, a driver's licence will be suspended.
Free check
Mphuti says development of the Aarto system allowing members of the public to access eNatis and view their infringements is ready but implementation will depend on government's go-ahead.
He adds that fleet companies will be able to interact with eNatis so they can monitor infringements and do driver qualification queries, ensuring drivers with suspended licences don't get sent out, resulting in heavy fines for the employer.
eNatis project director Gert van Eeden says employers can check a driver's licence status on eNatis free of charge. “It's a very limited check. It does not show any personal information. It only gives a red light if the driver should not be on the road.”
Paperless services
Tasima's latest projects include a Computerised Learner's Licence Testing system that will be rolled out provincially. Currently, pilot systems are being put in place.
In the future, the company intends to assist e-government goals and go paperless, says Mphuti.
He adds that there will be online renewal services on the eNatis Web site so people don't have to go in to traffic departments. There will also be mobile solutions where SMSes will be sent as renewal reminders for driver's licences.
“Members of the South African public will be able to perform - and pay for - a wide array of transactions online and at automated teller machines, starting with vehicle licence renewals later this year,” says the CEO.
He adds that law enforcement officers will use handheld devices to query the roadworthy status of vehicles and check for demerit points against drivers.
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