The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport is piloting an examination unit that captures motorists` fingerprints and photographs electronically.
Should the project prove a success, motorists in that province will not be required to manually take fingerprints or photographs when converting to or applying for the credit card format (CCF) driving licence.
The unit, dubbed the "Life Scanning Unit", streamlines paperless credit card format applications and eye-test processes, said the department in a statement.
Applications are also made electronically, on a screen.
The unit is built on tables about the size of learners` licence examination tables and occupies about eight square metres of space, said the department.
The applicant and examiner sit opposite each other to conduct the test.
"In order to aid enforcement and improved identification, the full names of the licence-holder will in future appear on the card and a space of up to 26 characters is provided for this," the department said.
Transport MEC S`bu Ndebele has hailed the initiative a success, saying it will help eradicate crime and corruption.
"The fingerprint verification standards of the unit are much higher than previously and this will lead to improved integrity as the prints are being taken electronically by means of a biometrics scanner," Ndebele says.
The province`s Road Traffic Inspectorate director John Schnell says the unit will improve card security in that the laminate will be overprinted and the edges milled and imprinted with the letters ZA.
"The paper on which the licence particulars are printed will be further enhanced with micro fibres which are ultra-violet sensitive and the thumbprint will be encrypted. This means that transactions are quality controlled and that no further rejection for fingerprints will take place in the future," Schnell says.
The unit also has a built-in camera with a flash that conveys a digital image of the applicant along with the fingerprints to a card production facility.
The technology is being piloted at the Mkondeni Licensing Centre, just outside Pietermaritzburg.
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