IT eliminates driver fraud

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 02 Apr 2007

Automating driver testing and the learner licence exam is about reducing road deaths, says Gauteng transport MEC Ignatius Jacobs.

It will also ensure better service, easier processes and less human interference.

"If government wants to get re-elected, it has to provide quality services to their people," Jacobs said at SA's largest vehicle testing station, Langlaagte in Johannesburg, on Friday. He was launching a pilot scheme that has seen bookings, learner and driver tests substantially automated.

Corruption has become a major bugbear in the system, with candidates and driving schools bribing officials to secure a pass or a convenient testing date, and with brothers, sisters, friends or even examiners sitting tests for candidates.

The R23 million system uses digital signatures and pictures, as well as biometric thumbprints, to authenticate the candidate's identity at each stage of the process. "It will now be impossible for someone to do the test on your behalf," says Jacobs.

The learner test is now entirely automated and completed on a touch-screen computer that randomly generates questions and scrambles the answers on screen. This means no two tests are the same, eliminating parrot-fashion answering and cheating.

In the unlikely case two candidates both have the same question at the same time, there is no guarantee the correct answer in each case will be "b".

The test is also automatically marked and, says Jacobs, leaves "no room to pass someone who failed, or fail someone who passed".

Boosting test volumes

Automation will also bring efficiency, allowing Langlaagte to boost the number of tests from 210 to 350 a day. "This really is business process re-engineering," says Jacobs.

He says the automation of the driving test eliminates a major hurdle: objectively evaluating the test. "Up to now it was the prerogative of the tester. If he failed you, it was his word against yours."

The new system provides evidence of the test, with the yard monitored by 19 CCTV cameras and the 10 Toyota Corollas used for Code Eight tests fitted with a forward, rearward and driver-facing camera. What they see during the test, as well as other information (see sidebar), is recorded and played back to the candidate in an "after action review".

Candidates now have a complete record of the driving test and can be shown exactly where they failed. A number of traffic lights around the testing station have also been modified with radio transmitters, providing the onboard computer with exact information on its phase when the vehicle passed through. The tester is now armed with an HP tablet and is also evaluated - facing retraining if performing below par. "This greatly increases fairness and leaves less room for manipulation," says Jacobs.

"It is now impossible to get a licence through bribery or error. People will need to know the rules of the road and how to drive to get a licence, which ultimately means safer drivers on the road.

"Bad drivers contribute to lack of safety on our roads and this also leads to unnecessary loss of lives. We cannot allow this to continue. Fraud puts incompetent drivers on our roads. It also leads to loss of revenue, placing an unacceptable additional strain on our health services and the economy as a whole."

The much-maligned centralised booking system run by the Gauteng Shared Services Centre has also been revamped, as promised by provincial premier Mbhazima Shilowa, in February.

Jacobs says bookings can be made at the testing centres or via 0860 Gauteng (0860-42-88-364).