From Thursday, all smart driving licence applicants should book an appointment for issuance of the document, the National Transport and Safety Authority has said.

The appointments should be made through the applicant’s Transport Information Management System (TIMS) account, the NTSA said in a notice on Wednesday.

TIMS is a self-service portal on the NTSA website.

The government rolled out the new smart driving licences in March last year after testing was completed.

The new smart card costs Sh3,000 and will be valid for three years.

The licences will have electronic chips with all details of drivers, much like ATM cards.

They will have details of names, blood type, biometric information and offences committed.

Each card has 100 points and points are deducted when traffic offences are committed.

If the driver reaches the threshold of 40 points, the licence will automatically be cancelled.

After the three years, holders will apply again for new permits.

The points system is used in countries including the UK, Australia and Germany.