From Saturday October 15, all vehicle drivers in Macau will be able to replace their paperback and physical driving documents and cards with digital versions stored in their Macao One Account profiles, the government announced at a press conference yesterday.
Several documents including driving licenses, vehicle registrations and insurance proofs can be presented to the police authorities if requested in the digitalized form using the mobile application, adding convenience for both drivers and inspection authorities.
The deputy director of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP), Ng Wai Han, told the press conference the digitization of government services had been one of the measures included in Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng’s policy address this year.
Ng said the digitization of driving documents has particular importance in terms of volume. She said the “My Vehicle” section of the Macao One Account is the service more people are registering for. It has been used in 300,000 of the 340,000 accounts created.
The new functions have been added to the section that previously (since January 1) only served for the payment of the annual road tax of local vehicles.
With the additional functions, it is also possible for drivers and vehicle owners to review their vehicles’ status at any time including fines for traffic violations, and a whole range of functions related to both the vehicles and their drivers.
Public Security Police Force (PSP) representative, Ho Sio Meng, told the press conference the functions also provide more accurate information to police officers to verify drivers’ and vehicles’ documentation. With the scan of a QR Code, officers will know immediately if the driving license has been suspended and other particulars such as the validity of the insurance.
The new system will particularly benefit motorcyclists who have difficulty keeping the documentation safe in their vehicle.
Ho Sio Meng also noted that although this function is very practical and convenient, drivers need to pay special attention to the fact that, to show the documents, their mobile phones must have enough battery power and an internet signal. Without these, drivers must provide original documents when requested by the authorities.
This will also be true during periods of system maintenance. Acting according to the law, authorities will inform citizens about periods of maintenance five days before maintenance occurs via a notification sent through the Macao One Account system platform.
Ng noted there are currently more than 240,000 motor vehicles in Macau, with about 130,000 already linked to the platform. It is expected more will link to the platform over the next few days.
Insurance proof to be added via QR Code
A representative from the Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM), and another representing the Insurance Companies Association, has noted the majority of insurance companies providing vehicle insurance have been added to the platform, explaining all insurance policies acquired or renewed on or after last August 15 already have a QR Code. This allows owners to attach them to the vehicle in the Macao One Account. For those acquired before this date, the application also allows the users to ask their insurer to send their QR Code to enable them to complete the process.
They noted that when an insurance policy is renewed, users must update the data with the new policy, removing the expired policy.
According to data from the insurance sector, as of October 10, insurance companies had already provided 44,723 QR Codes to drivers who had already requested them. Officials said the process takes a maximum of seven days between requesting the QR Code from the insurance company and the reception of this code via SMS.
over 4,400 for irregularities regarding drivers and vehicles
Data disclosed by the representative of the Public Security Police Force (PSP), Ho Sio Meng, shows that the force has fined 4,451 people over the last two years due to irregularities related to their driving qualifications as well as vehicle defects or insurance.
The same official said 1,150 cases related to irregularities in driving abilities, 1,892 cases of vehicles without insurance and 1,409 cases of vehicles with unapproved characteristics. In the last case, the fines related to changes made by the owners that had not been approved by the Transport Bureau.
