New driver’s permit introduced

Minister of Works and Transport, Senator Rohan Sinanan, said at the launch at the ministry’s Headquarters on Richmond Street, Port of Spain, that the new permit will be part of a new centralised digital system aimed at making the licensing process more efficient.

The new permit, he said, “is embedded with bar code technology” and “will allow authorise officers to scan permits on the scene and obtain all relevant information about the holder of the particular driver’s permit.

“The relevant information includes whether the holder has any recorded and/or outstanding infractions of the law thereby establishing an independent and reliable tracking system for those who have had any interaction with the legal system.” In a few months, Sinanan explained, he will take legislation to Parliament that will permit the relevant officers to scan the permits on the scene.

Overall, the new system will create an efficient licensing service where authorised licensing staff can easily access and provide information to permit holders and where permit holders can easily access their information online.

It will be implemented in Tobago on Monday and will include the same-day production of certificates.

However, the system will be introduced into Trinidad on a phased basis, but the Ministry could not say when.

The new system does not invalidate, the Minister said, existing permits.