By Aziz Hartley

Khayelitsha traffic department is the Western Cape's first to have its licence appointment bookings done via an electronic system that automatically gives clients a date and time for tests.

The National Traffic Information System (eNaTIS) booking system, implemented in Khayelitsha last week, will be started in Knysna by April and rolled out to traffic centres across the province during the course of 2008.

Learner drivers would still be required to visit the centre to make appointments for their driver's licence tests, but unlike previously when appointments were booked manually, an officer would enter the client's information on the system and the computer would automatically display and register the details of the appointment.

This is an improvement over the manual system used before that which was subject to error and corruption.

The Khayelitsha traffic centre had been under the spotlight and a number of its officials were fired after the transport and public works department found that corruption had been rife there.

According to the eNaTIS website, the new booking system brings numerous advantages, such as:

# It integrates any related transactions on the system such as the applicants' details, and in this way streamlines the learner's and driving licence process.

# Capacity at driving licence testing centres and examiners are made known upfront.

# Overbooking becomes a thing of the past.

# Officials at testing centres will not be able to give preference to specific applicants by reserving appointment dates or times for them.