New Technology Makes Finding Stolen Cars Easier

BACSA is urging to to get Microdots technology expanded across SA This is in a effort to fight car theft.

Business Against Crime South Africa (BACSA) is going all out to try and get a new technology across the board in an effort to curb the theft of vehicles in the country.

Estimates put the number of vehicles stolen in South Africa each year at 90,000 - an 'industry' worth a whopping R9 billion.

The use of Microdots will hopefully bring down these numbers with reasonably little effort.

Microdots are essentially smaller than the size of dot and are laser printed across the body of a car.

These dots contain all the vital information about a car in bid to see whether it is a stolen vehicle or not.

BACSA is anxiously waiting for the government to approve legislation that will allow the use of Microdots by all car manufactures in South Africa.

In the meantime, however, the police is keen to get Microdots made compulsory on all new cars that have been registered from January 2010.

"Currently, there are specialized units within the SAPS utilizing the technology as a number of car manufactures have started using Microdots," said Fouche Burger, the Project Manager of BACSA's Microdots.

Burger believes that it won't be long before police will begin to use the new technology to identify stolen cars at roadblocks set up for that purpose.

Police use special magnifying glasses to see the Microdots on the car as they are too small to be seen by the naked eye.

"The effect of their decision to mark all their vehicles, even in difficult economic times, will benefit the country for many years to come," said Burger. "What we hope to see, however, is other manufactures and the leasing, rental and insurance industries, using the technology."