The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) plans to introduce new driving licences in 2018.
The new licences will store drivers’ details on a chip and unlike the old ones, they will indicate the driver’s blood group.
According to reports, indicating the blood group on the licence is a move aimed at facilitating treatment of accident victims admitted to hospital.
[caption caption="Sample of the New License"]
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[caption caption="The New License (Rear Side)"]
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At the moment, the new driving licences are in the pilot phase and will first be used by NTSA staff, management and a number of VIPs.
The digital cards will also contain details of the driver’s home county. NTSA has affirmed that the move is not related to ethnic profiling but solely for data purposes.
The licences that are currently in use will gradually be phased out to pave way for the introduction of the new electronic ones.
On Tuesday, the NTSA also proposed a new penalty to punish drunk drivers by sending them to work in mortuaries.
The proposal was met with stiff criticism from the National Funeral Services Association of Kenya Chairperson Ezra Olack.
Mr Olack rubbished those suggestions stating that they must have been a joke.
"Stop demeaning our profession. The work we do is very important.
"We have codes of ethics and conduct that all our staff have to abide by. This is not something we do while abusing substances," he remarked.
