Photo licence dated says card expert

By Keith Newman

16/03/99 - NZ Herald

Caption: The new licence is already out of step with much of the world.

When drivers begin receiving their plastic card-based drivers' licences from May, they will be using a non-standard format that could become redundant well before its 10-year life is up.

More than half the drivers in the world use a card with magnetic strip and barcode, a format that has been adopted by five countries, including the United States, Canada, England and Australia.

Wayne King, business development manager for Card Testing International, said it was strange that New Zealand did not support that standard.

Essentially it meant we were out of step with the rest of the world.

The new licence issued by the Land Transport Authority will have no magnetic strip and will simply rely on a digital photograph, printed material on the front and a barcode.

Mr King said the barcode was an optical device, which tended to get dirty.

"They are easily tampered with using a black pen, you can photocopy them and they tend to wear out.

"The international standard recognises barcode as an option but it's usually backed up with a magnetic stripe."

Card Testing International, which has a laboratory in Lower Hutt, is one of only four organisations in the world with high-tech testing equipment for card technology.

It regularly runs samples through its laboratory for about 10 New Zealand customers as part of quality-control and standards monitoring.

"At no stage did the New Zealand Government approach our laboratory to ask us what the issues were between cards so we could give them some guidelines."

He said the decision to go with the present card went back to privacy issues raised at the time of the Kiwi card, which was to have been a smart card for health services.

Those concerns led to our enhanced privacy laws and the simplified community services card.

"Privacy is an issue but I just wonder whether we made the right decision," said Mr King.

"Did we look at what was happening internationally or did we focus on the digital photograph pushed by the suppliers, rather than the real issue?"

The other five nations tended to use drivers' licences as a form of identification, he said.

"A common mode in the US is to pay by cheque and authenticate yourself by drivers' licence. You simply hand your card over and it's scanned to confirm your identity.

"While you're not allowed to ask for the licence as an ID in New Zealand, if you choose to give your licence, it will happen that way."

Mr King said it took three minutes to manually take down the number off licences but with a swipe card it took three seconds.

At the time legislation was being shaped to allow the issuing of the new licence, Privacy Commissioner Bruce Slane warned it was simply a Trojan horse for a national ID card as drivers would be obliged to carry it at all times.

He said the licence would provide ideal conditions for Government agencies, police officers, and retailers to ask for the card as standard identification.

Price error adds to list of photo licence bungles

By Chris Daniels - 28/05/99 - NZ Herald

Drivers receiving their new photo licences in the mail have been told they may have paid too much for the privilege of upgrading.

The first batch of new licences have been posted by the Land Transport Safety Authority - accompanied by a letter saying drivers may have been overcharged.

"A system error meant some drivers were charged too much for their photo driver licence," it says.

While not telling licence-holders whether they paid too much, the letter says it was most likely to have occurred when drivers upgraded before their birthday and before May 13.

"The error has been fixed and I regret any inconvenience it has caused," says Reg Barrett, director of the Land Transport Safety Authority, in the letter.

Under the new law, drivers do not have to obtain a new photo licence until 60 days after their birthday. Many have upgraded before then.

Authority spokeswoman Catherine Etheridge said $2.50 was the most any of these people would have been overcharged.

She would not say how the problem occurred, but said it had been fixed on May 13.

More than 90,000 people have applied for the new licences.

The upgrading has been dogged with glitches since it started on May 3.

Many licence-holders were posted information incorrectly listing their status as organ donors.

This was despite Transport Minister Maurice Williamson saying there "had not been a single case" of organ donor error.

One-quarter of drivers who failed eyesight tests at the licence upgrading stations were later told by optometrists that they were safe to drive.

About 2500 licensing test papers were withdrawn last week when it was found they contained printing errors.

Organ donor botch-up in licence revamp

05/05/99 - NZ Herald

The spectre of unwilling donors having their organs removed after they die has been raised as the first batch of information packs goes out to drivers in the controversial relicensing programme.

Drivers who previously said they wanted to donate organs when they died have received forms telling them they are listed as non-donors and to the shock of some who originally declined to donate, their forms claim they are registered with the scheme. The Land Transport Safety Authority, which is responsible for the switch to new drivers' licences, last night apologised to worried and confused callers. Computer specialists are checking the extent to which the information on the organ donor database is faulty.

In another blight on the introduction of the regime, the Government said yesterday that it would not refund optometry fees to people who failed the now mandatory initial eye test but were later cleared as having acceptable vision.

The authority is now checking the donor information mix-up.

Spokesman Dave Jones said he did not know how many of the estimated 2.5 million drivers had registered as donors, or how widespread the error about donor choice was in the licensing information packs. The first ones went out to drivers whose birthday was in May.

Mr Jones said it did not seem to affect every form. Drivers who inquired were told it was a chance to reconsider the issue, and if the information was wrong they could change it when their licence was upgraded.

Authority staff were last night trying to find out how widespread the error was.

"It hasn't been done deliberately," said Mr Jones. "We are not that bad. Unfortunately with a project of this magnitude there's always the potential for this kind of thing to occur. We are obviously sorry."

The organ donor scheme was first linked to driver licensing in 1988 when so-called lifetime licences were issued.

Regardless of whether a person signed up as a donor, his or her family could still withdraw consent after the driver's death.

Drivers’ eye test flawed

By Chris Daniels
transport reporter 04/05/99 - NZ Herald

Eye tests introduced as part of a chaotic start to the new driver licensing system yesterday are expected to fail 375,000 New Zealanders - many of whom have nothing wrong with their vision.

Optometrists say they warned the Government the cheap eye-testing equipment it is using was not fully reliable, meaning drivers will have to pay an extra $45 or more for a test that then proves they were wrongly failed.

Every one of New Zealand's 2.5 million drivers will have to go through the $30 procedure of getting a new licence and officials estimate 15 per cent (375,000) will fail the basic eye test.

If that happens they must pay for and pass a full eye test with a qualified optometrist to keep driving.

The initial test, involving licensing staff directing people to look into a box, has been described as "a bit of a concern" by optometrists.

A New Zealand Herald reporter passed the test when it was demonstrated to politicians and guests a fortnight ago in Wellington - then failed it in Auckland yesterday, only to get driving clearance from an optometrist.

Noel Rugg, of the Automobile Association, which has the contract to do the relicensing in the upper North Island, explained the discrepancy by saying the Wellington tests were not conducted by fully trained staff.

But the president of the Optometrists Association, John McLennan, said the machines did not work for everyone. Looking at a wall rather than into a box was more natural and would give a more accurate reading.

"It is something we told them about, that the machines were not that reliable - but obviously using a machine is a quicker way of screening people so they opted to go that way."

Despite the possibility of 375,000 eye tests having to be conducted by his colleagues, Mr McLennan suggested they were not expecting to get rich quick. "It's not exactly high-profit stuff."

Some were considering offering a cheaper test that would meet regulatory standards for as little as $10 to $15.

A rush of about 30,000 people wanting to upgrade to new driver licences caused frustrating delays yesterday.

The Land Transport Safety Authority operations manager, Rob Martyn, said many were anxious about the new requirement to carry a driver licence at all times when driving.

The Whangarei AA office manager, Glenn Hooper, said his staff had been run off their feet. He suggested those who had lost their licences wait until their birthday because "police have said they will be understanding in the first months."

Long queues and frustrating delays were also reported in Hamilton, Te Kuiti and Tauranga. Frances Webb, of Auckland, went to an AA Express centre to book in for a practical driving test. "It was absolute chaos. They said they couldn't process it today and they suggested I come back in six months!"

Brake due to come off driving tests

By Chris Daniels
transport reporter - 27/03/99 - NZ Herald

Thousands of learner-drivers should finally be able to book in for tests next week, after Government delays in approving new rules.

Transport Minister Maurice Williamson is set to announce details of the new driver-licence rules on Tuesday, after signing the new regulations last Monday.

Thousands of people wanting to sit their driving tests have been told they cannot even book one, as no one knows what the new rules will be.

Testing stations across the country are fully booked until the new system starts on May 1. They have not been allowed to take bookings for May, as Mr Williamson had not approved the new rules.

Two practical tests will be needed before a learner can graduate to a full licence. One will be to get a restricted licence, the other to become a fully legal driver.

The cost of getting a full licence will increase from $146 to $246.

All these changes will be accompanied by the privatisation of the testing and licensing system.

One Auckland driving instructor said he was concerned that the AA would now dominate driver training, testing and licensing.

He said that if his name was published, the AA could terminate his contract with it for criticising it without permission.

"They will train drivers, test them, then issue licences. They will be the judge and jury of their own case."

The Commerce Commission is already investigating the AA's domination of the new scheme, after six complaints were received.

From Taupo north from May 1, the AA, or one of its subsidiaries, will train drivers, test them and give out their licences.

The AA has said the testing part of the organisation, known as Driver Testing New Zealand, will be independent, with an entirely separate board of directors and management.

Driving testers have also expressed concern that the AA would now pay them for each test, not a salary, providing a financial incentive to fail drivers and force them to pay for a re-sit.

AA chief executive Brian Gibbons said rates would be compared between testers, to make sure they were not failing too many people.

Unfair tax says road-user body

By Chris Daniels
transport reporter - 28/04/99 - NZ Herald

Commercial road users have called new Government licence charges an unfair tax on business.

Sweeping changes in traffic law, driver licensing and testing will be introduced on Monday, May 3, and include increased charges for taxi, bus and truck licences.

To fulfil Government wishes for "full cost recovery, many will face large, upfront charges to keep their licences valid.

The chief executive of the Road Transport Forum, Tony Friedlander, Tony Friedlander, said the charges were a form of tax.

"We have grave reservations about how justifiable these charges are - we think they are excessive. "We have made that view known to the Government and they will take the consequences for it. There will be many drivers out there who are upset and will remember.

The price jumps for commercial drivers resulted from compromises made in Parliament when the Land Transport Act was being passed, he said.

The Minister of Transport, Maurice Williamson, had come under pressure last year to make upgrading to photo licences for car drivers as cheap as possible.

"We believe that a bit of a rejig went on when they were forced to compromise on the cost of drivers' licences. Now they have made sure they have recovered it elsewhere, said Mr Friedlander.

Owner-drivers and waged drivers, many of whom did not earn big money, would be seriously affected by the charges.

A spokeswoman for the Land Transport Safety Authority, Catherine Etheridge, said the new charges were designed to recover compliance costs from industry without taxpayers having to subsidise them.

Information about the changes would be sent out to commercial licence holders.

While the new rules come into force on May 3, drivers will not have to upgrade their licences until their birthday.

Taxi drivers, however, had to upgrade when their identification cards expired.

Photographic licences would cost between $10 and $29. They would also have to pay an endorsement fee of $171.50, a vetting fee of $141 and an identity card fee of $8.50.

The vetting fee - to pay police to check the driver is a fit and proper person - would replace a yearly fee of $50.

A bus driver wanting to drive only big buses would need an upgraded photographic licence, but after 12 months, a bus endorsement would expire. The bus driver would then have to pay $312 in fees.

Bus drivers were previously checked by police only when they first got their licence. They would now be vetted every five years.

West Auckland taxi driver Epp Bauern said the authority had not done enough to tell commercial drivers about the changes.

"No one knows what is going on, she said. "A lot of these fly-by-night firms just won't pay it.

AA's monopoly on driver licensing tested

By Chris Daniels
transport reporter -   25/03/99 - NZ Herald

The new licensing and testing system for drivers is being investigated by the Commerce Commission after complaints of anti-competitive practices.

Subsidiaries of the Automobile Association have won contracts to carry out the tasks from May 3, but the privatisation move has already sparked six complaints. The Labour Party has described the transition as a shambles, with thousands of drivers unable to book for a test.

No bookings are being accepted for May, as the Minister of Transport, Maurice Williamson, has yet to formally approve the new licensing rules.

He is refusing to say if the rules will be approved as expected, or when he will make an announcement.

The Land Transport Safety Authority yesterday announced the companies that had won the contracts to test and license.

A wholly owned subsidiary of the AA, Driver Testing New Zealand, will run the practical driving testing from Taupo northwards.

A network of shops known as AA Express will take bookings for practical tests, run the theory tests and issue the new photographic drivers' licences.

It is this connection that has prompted complaints to the commission. Many in the driver-training industry are unhappy at the market domination the AA will gain as a result of the changes. Three other firms have been appointed as driver licensing agents, while another - New Zealand Driver Licensing - will do practical testing from Taupo southwards.

AA chief executive Brian Gibbons said the AA Express outlets would provide one location for all core motoring requirements.

Driver Testing New Zealand was a separate company, with a different board of directors and management from the AA.

While it was a commercial operation, the plan was to give more benefits to motorists and AA members.

Money from the licensing could be used for such items as road safety programmes. Changing over to the new system for testing on May 3 has led to a rush of people wanting their licences, with more than three times the normal number booked in before May 1.

The issuing of new photographic licences will start in May, with drivers required to get a new licence on the month of their birthday.

Rob Martyn, general operations manager for the authority, said that under the new contracts, there should be no conflict of interest between those testing and issuing licences.

Labour transport spokesman Harry Duynhoven said the transition to the system was a shambles and people had no idea what was happening.

Delays had been caused by the Government decision to increase charges and fees on licences. This was to pay for the cut in price of the new 10-year photo licence to $30 instead of the original $60.