End of driving licence grace period: What you need to know

Thursday is the last day of the grace period for driving licences which expired during the Covid-19 pandemic, with hundreds of thousands of motorists still battling to get legal.

The department has ramped up law enforcement officers on the road to issue penalties for motorists who drive with expired licences.

Transport spokesperson Lawrence Venkile says motorists who have already applied for renewal will be exempted, but there are conditions.

“The law is very clear that you may not drive a vehicle without a valid driving license. When you get stopped by a traffic officer on the road, and you do not have a valid driving licence, you will get a fine.

“However, those who have already applied to renew their licences, the road traffic regulations allow them a further grace period of three months from the date they applied to renew the license, provided that the license had not yet expired when the application for renewal was made.”

“In relation to the category of licenses whose grace period expire today, which is those licenses that expired on 26 March 2020 and 31 August 2021, make sure you apply before the end of close business day today.

“When you are stopped by officers on the road, you must have a receipt as well as the expired card, that allows you a further grace period of three months. That is why we believe that if people make their way to the driving license testing centres, they will avoid harsh penalties.”

Venkile says the department is unlikely to extend the grace period.

“The extensions were done in terms of regulations under the Disaster Management Act. Since the president has announced the end of the state of disaster, the regulations only allowed a further grace period of 30 days from the date of the end of the national disaster.

“In terms of our own legislation, there is no likelihood that there will be another extension.”

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