The road to this achievement started in 2001 when DataDot began their operation at their headquarters in George, Western Cape. It was slow and steady from this point and the first real indication that DataDot would be a technology that could be used successfully in South Africa came during 2003, when Avis took up the product for their fleet of vehicles realising a drop in theft and increase in recovery of over 50% in both cases.
It was two years later that the South African Taxi industry adopted DataDot to curb the problems with taxi theft in 2005; while Nissan and BMW shortly followed in 2006 and 2007 respectively, by fitting their entire compliment of vehicles.
This was to prove the testing grounds for DataDot and, with over 16 000 SAPS members trained in the identification of this technology, it became a real tool for police to use in the fight against vehicle crime.
Regulation 56 was published in September 2012 making it compulsory for all new vehicles and all vehicles requiring a request for police clearance to have microdots fitted.
DataDot is a proud supplier to over 80% of the new vehicle market in South Africa supplying the likes of Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Land Rover to name just a few, with over 17% of vehicles currently on South African roads being fitted with DataDot.
DNA
Ten thousand tiny DataDots are fitted to the vehicles giving them their own DNA and making the vehicle commercially useless to criminals.
Bottom line: criminals stay away from vehicles with DataDot as it increases the risk of them being caught and prosecuted 10 000 fold and the cost of dealing in stolen vehicles becomes far too great.
Recovery
A vehicle fitted with DataDot has more than a 55% reduction in the chances of being hijacked or stolen, which is a real benefit as the avoidance of this sort of event is important to any South African.
If a vehicle is stolen, DataDot further increase the chances of the vehicle being recovered by over 50% with 14 000 vehicles having had DataDot fitted already being recovered accounting for over R2-billion. Taking into account that vehicles that cannot be identified (the majority of vehicles stolen in South Africa have their identities changed) are crushed when recovered, this is a substantial saving to the South African economy.
For more information visit DataDot at www.datadot.co.za or follow them on Twitter (@DataDot) and Facebook (DataDotSA).
There was a feeling of elation on Saturday as DataDot Technology celebrated their milestone of having two million vehicles marked with the DataDot lazer anti-theft identification. A celebration party was held at one of the company's sites in Foundry Street in George. Photos: Pauline Lourens
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