The government has extended by six months the validity of provisional driving licences and defensive driving certificates which expired from March 30.
The closure of the Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) during the country’s lockdown has necessitated an extension of the validity of the documents.
According to Statutory Instrument (SI) 144 of 2020, the validity of a learner’s licence which expired after 30 March shall be extended automatically when the lockdown ends. It said:
The principal order [SI, Public Health (COVID -19 Prevention, Containment and Treatment) (National Lockdown) (Amendment) Order, 2020 (No. 11)] is amended by the insertion after section 16 of the following section— deferment of expiry of certain documents issued under Cap. 12:11 17.
If the period of validity of a learner’s licence expires after the 30th March 2020, its validity shall be automatically extended from the date of expiry to a date ending 180 days thereafter, or to the date when the national lockdown ends, whichever is the earlier date.
According to the S1, defensive driving certificates which expired on March 30 will also be extended by six months. It adds:
If the period of validity stated on a defensive driving certificate expires after the 30th March 2020, its validity shall be automatically extended from the date of expiry to a date ending 180 days thereafter, or to the date when the national lockdown ends, whichever is the earlier date.
The extension also applied to public service drivers who were due for retesting when the lockdown was announced. SI 144 2020 says:
If the date on which a public service vehicle driver must be re-tested falls due at any time between the 30th March 2020, and the date when national lockdown ends, the driver shall be re-tested on a date or dates to be notified by the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development by general notice in the Gazette, and until such date or dates the public service vehicle drivers concerned are deemed to have been duly and successfully re-tested.