The National Police’s traffic department has revealed that it has begun confiscating old driving licenses in a move to pressure motorists to acquire the new electronic ones.

Police spokesman Supt. Eric Kayiranga, confirmed the move saying that the deadline to obtain the new licenses has past.

"All drivers who still used the old driving license had until March 23, to have got the new electronic permits,” said Kayiranga.

He clarified that those who applied for the electronic driving permits are not affected by the crackdown.

"Those who are currently applying and those had already applied for the new ones; we don’t have any problem with them. But the operation affects those who have not yet taken steps to get the new permits,” Kayiranga said.

The deadline for phasing out the old licenses had been previously set for December 2009, but was later extended to march.

According to information from the Traffic Police Department, of the 70,000 registered drivers, only 56 percent have acquired the new licenses.

The new Rwf 50,000 plastic electronic licenses have a built-in data code that contains all details of the holder.
New categories that did not exist before such as A1 and B1, for physically disadvantaged motorists, have also been included.

The process of registering for the electronic driving licenses started in the last quarter of 2008.

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