The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has issued a unified driving license and vehicle registration norm that would have a uniform ‘smart’ design. According to these norms, every driving licence and the Registration Card (RC) will have the same appearance throughout the country. It will have the same security features along with the QR code.
The new smart driving licence will also be capable to keep a record of the driver and penalties for up to 10 years. At the rear side of the licence, there will be an emergency contact number that will come in handy if the person driving a vehicle gets involved in an accident. In such a case, the bystanders will be able to contact his/her family members using that emergency number.
The step has been taken after MoRTH issued a notification regarding the new design for driving licence and registration card. The first state where the orders have been applied is Uttar Pradesh where the concerned department has already started issuing the DLs and RCs in the said format.
These new regulations are actually targeted at creating a central online database for all vehicles and drivers. A handy tracking device will be issued to the traffic police in order to be able to read the QR code quickly so that they can easily catch the offender even for the past violations.
The state government can install a chip and other features into the card similar to the near field communication (NFC) feature. Apart from that, these smart licences will also have the information about the limitations of a differently-abled driver along with the modifications done to their vehicle.
The smart vehicle registration card will also mention the fuel type and emission details. The Indian government is also planning to improve the quality of the card in order to avoid the fading of printing on it due to ageing.