Old driving licences to be cancelled?

[Nate]

https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Driving-licenses-with-no-expiration-date-will-be-canceled-by-end-of-this-year/108-289913

 

This article seems to suggest that all old non expirable licences will be cancelled. 

https://www.newsfirst.lk/2024/08/20/cancellation-of-non-renewable-driving-license

 

This one suggests that it's only heavy vehicle licenses which get cancelled. 

 

Does anyone have an idea which is actually correct? I have one of these"old" licenses, and I'm wondering if I need to do anything 😅

 

[iRage]

12 hours ago, Nate said:

https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Driving-licenses-with-no-expiration-date-will-be-canceled-by-end-of-this-year/108-289913

 

This article seems to suggest that all old non expirable licences will be cancelled. 

https://www.newsfirst.lk/2024/08/20/cancellation-of-non-renewable-driving-license

 

This one suggests that it's only heavy vehicle licenses which get cancelled. 

 

Does anyone have an idea which is actually correct? I have one of these"old" licenses, and I'm wondering if I need to do anything 😅

 

In typical SL fashion, different people are reporting different things, and I won't be surprised if even the authorities themselves are confused.

I believe they both say the same thing. It is just that Newsfirst is being very specific while the DailyNews article leaves room for interpretation (both justified considering the wishy-washyness of our policies and the non-journalistic nature of SL journalism)

So...yes...all non-expiring driver's licenses will be canceled over the next year or two. Now...I can only hope that they are not going to repeat the TIN registration fiasco again and ask all 2.x million to go get new licenses by canceling ALL of them at the same time.  Fingers crossed, it will be canceled according to some priority/logical sequence, which at present, seems to start with heavy/commercial driver licenses followed by light-vehicle drivers. Once the cancellation date of each of the license categories is published the license holders will be given a grace period after (?) the date of cancellation to get their new driver's license.

As for the timeline, I seriously doubt the authorities have the capacity to re-issue 2.x million licenses over a short period of time. So, I suppose one should be prepared to change it over within the next year to a year and a half (maybe two).

On something tangentially related...

The authorities would benefit from starting to accept medical checkups from any official clinic rather than going to the place and getting licensees prodded and poked. It would help to speed things up. They should also develop a more comprehensive medical test, especially for heavy vehicle operators. 

It is too bad there won't be a skills test (perhaps not having it might enable them to issue the 2.x mil licenses quickly as it is just a matter of photographing people and printing the cards)

A good revenue stream for the authorities would be to enforce mandatory drug tests regularly for heavy/commercial vehicle operators. If they were to do it, the public would certainly be unified behind the government for once. But then, since the country is run by tuk-tuk and private bus unions, it probably will never happen.

 

 

[Nate]

Good insight, iRage.

I'll see if I can switch over before it's mandatory. 

[Nate]

https://www.newswire.lk/2024/08/23/old-driving-licence-clarification-from-transport-ministry/

🤣

[Ruslan]

Lol, i don't know from which end these Gov officials talk.. apparently they cant manage issuing Passports to the Citizens nor do they able to issue Driving licenses to the new applicants..

[iRage]

4 hours ago, Nate said:

https://www.newswire.lk/2024/08/23/old-driving-licence-clarification-from-transport-ministry/

🤣

Uhh...so what the heck is going on? The old licenses (without renewal period) will not be canceled, but only if they are for heavy vehicles? But 2 million licenses will not be canceled (which includes heavy vehicle licenses), but they will only require data to be updated in the system. So what gets canceled, and what doesn't? 
Do you know what we need ?

A Venn diagram !!!

[Nate]

Election coming up... 🤣

[Noobdriver]

On 8/28/2024 at 8:20 PM, Ruslan said:

Lol, i don't know from which end these Gov officials talk.. apparently they cant manage issuing Passports to the Citizens nor do they able to issue Driving licenses to the new applicants..

Not really, you can get the physical cards from RMV Werahera now. I walked in to renew my temporary permit, they stamped it and renewed it and asked me to goto a specific counter. At that counter, I had to sign a request letter and come back in like 3 hours to collect the card. I went back when it was nearing their closing time and the card was ready. Entire process time investment: 45 minutes (excluding commute).