When it comes to the California DMV, is this a case of new year, same old tune?
It is a positive sign that the head of the enormous bureaucracy has been checking readers' complaints about the license renewal process for drivers over 70 years of age, and here a newsletter:
It's even throwing out some of the crazy test questions that many of you have been complaining about.
I'll get to that in a moment, but first let's take a look at the mailbag, which continues to be packed with DMV stories.
Dave Warburton, 76, of Santa Clarita went to renew his license the first week of January and was told there was no record of his pre-registration in the computer system.
“Not a good start,” he wrote in an email.
But after the registration issue was resolved, Warburton passed the vision test, so things improved. Until he passed the knowledge test.
“As I started the test, I heard the woman to my right complaining loudly to a worker that she hadn't passed the test three times in a row,” said Warburton, a retired copywriter in the marketing industry.
California is about to be hit by a wave of aging populations, and Steve Lopez is taking advantage of it. His column focuses on the blessings and burdens of old age and how some people are challenging the stigma associated with older adults.
Warburton then failed, despite diligently studying the DMV driving manual. He swears that some of the questions were arcane (almost as if they were created as trick questions) and useless in determining someone's ability to drive safely. For example: When approaching a blind curve on a winding mountain road, at what distance should you start honking to warn oncoming traffic?
“Gee, what kind of question is that?” Warburtron asked, telling me that he threw his hands up in frustration. “I responded 100 feet. The correct answer was 200 feet.”
Warburton took the exam again and narrowly passed. But the experience left him angry and feeling sorry for the DMV employees who drive the daily conveyor belt of human misery.
“I saw other seniors on the verge of tears,” he said. “I was literally shaking when I walked out of the DMV with my new license in hand.”
I could fill a book with stories like this, but let's move on to DMV Director Steve Gordon and his plan to fix this mess. In November, I was a guest on Larry Mantle's show. AirTalk program on KPCC, along with Gordon, and expected him to back off. But that's not what happened.
“I think Steve raises some valid points and I really appreciate his reporting on that,” he said.
Steve Gordon said he has visited each of the state's 180 DMV offices to watch and listen.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Gordon was a successful Silicon Valley tech executive who didn't need the job he took in 2019, but after standing in line for hours at the DMV in San Jose, his wife encouraged him to be a fixer instead of a complainer. At the time, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the agency's technology “Byzantine” and acknowledged that Californians were rightfully “outraged” by harrowing encounters with the DMV. He then threw Gordon into the gaping maw of the ruthless bureaucratic beast.
I met with Gordon and Assistant Principal Anita Gore a few days ago and we talked for almost an hour. She said she has visited each of the state's 180 DMV offices to watch and listen, and even reads mail from consumers with complaints or suggestions.
Gordon said there is still a long way to go in reshaping the DMV, but highlighted the agency's progress in reducing wait times and making it easier to complete routine tasks, such as license renewals, online instead of in person. .
So what does this mean for people who need to renew after age 70, like I will have to do this year in October?
One of my biggest complaints has been that the license renewal options were not clearly stated by the DMV on their website or anywhere else. Before the pandemic, drivers age 70 and older were required to renew their licenses in person. That requirement was suspended until January 2023, when confusion reigned.
Many people were under the impression that they had no choice but to renew their licenses with an in-person knowledge test, but that was not necessarily the case. The DMV was doing a terrible job of clarifying various options and who was eligible for each.
And then one day I heard from Encino-based actor Mitchell Group who said the e-learning renewal option was very easy and fail-safe. It was like a video training course with review questions after each segment, Group said. If you make a mistake, you can try again until you get it right.
Crazy, right? Some people suffered through DMV cattle queues and failed crazy tests; others breezed through the entire process without leaving the comfort of their own couches.
The DMV promised last fall to clear all this up, and the result is a new website for drivers aged 70 and over that went into operation on December 28. It's an improvement, I'd say, but as I was going over it with Gordon, who was on the line from Sacramento, I told him I thought he needed some adjustments.
Gordon agreed.
“I looked at it again today,” he said, “and there were already like five things I want to change.”
My advice to readers is that when you receive your renewal notice, go online to begin the process and opt for e-learning if you are eligible (you do not qualify if you have more than one point on your record for traffic violations).
Another important advance is that new legislation by Assemblyman Mike Gipson (D-Carson) could make it possible for you to avoid an in-person DMV license renewal visit until age 80. DMV staff are still working out the details, but under the same legislation, you could also submit authorization from your eye doctor instead of taking an in-person vision test.
As for exam questions, more than 20 have been removed from the rotation. Someone asked what a driver should do when he sees a traffic sign that says “NEV USE ONLY” or “NEV ROUTE.” Readers had complained that they didn't know what NEV (neighborhood electric vehicle, or golf cart) means, or couldn't imagine that the issue comes into play often enough to waste space on a license renewal test. .
Another question, now deleted, asked: “What is another name for the hand-to-hand steering method?” I'm still not sure why anyone would know or care. Also torn apart was a question asking what the minimum sentence is for manslaughter for killing someone while evading police pursuit, and another asking what the punishment is if you “evade a law enforcement officer in the performance of his duties, but “no bodily injuries occur.”
By the way, Gordon said on the radio show in November that he was happy to hear opinions on what other issues should be eliminated. You know where to find me and I know where to find you.
In fact, I think I need to call him again.
I just heard from Santa Clarita resident Dave Warburton's wife, Bonnie, who told me that she tried to renew her license on Friday by opting into the online e-learning course. The program loaded, she said, and then froze.
“This technology is very reliable and works almost all the time,” Gordon said.
But it wasn't like that for Bonnie. She was on the phone with the DMV and got help, only for things to go wrong again. She said another DMV employee told her this had been going on for several weeks.
“Some people can't log in and some people can't load the video,” Bonnie said after spending a couple of hours with nothing to show. “It's nonsense.”
And to think Gordon had told me that the E in eLearning stands for “enjoyment.”
