A trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles
Every 5 years California residents are obliged to renew their driver licenses. Those over 70, like me, must go to the DMV and take a written examine. That’s about as much fun as having a root canal without Novocain only it takes twice long, making the experience even more painful.
Image by phossil via Flickr
My adventure took about 2 hours, but my time spent might have been less if I had made an appointment. I called to do this several days in advance. However, a recording informed me that all lines were busy. After about 15 minutes on hold, I chose to just show up and take my chances. As it turns out, the only advantage of a pre-set time was in obtaining an initial number to start the process, sorta like getting a ticket at the deli counter in my local supermarket.
Once I had the number, I held on to it like it was the winning Lotto ticket. No one was going to get it away from me. With this secure in my hand, I sat with the scores of other people and watched one of the dozens of overhead screens displaying the numbers to be served, the process went ever so slowly until it finally came to the one I held. I used this time to study the 94 page California Driver Handbook, with one eye on the numbers screen, in preparation for the test to come.
The variety of people sitting around the waiting areas was amazingly diverse. That should have been expected, since besides English, the basic driver license exam is also available in 31 additional languages: Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian, Chinese, Croatian, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Persian/Farsi, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Tagalog/Filipino, Thai, Tongan, Turkish, and Vietnamese.
Do other countries allow people to take the test in languages other than the one(s) used on the road signs? This makes no sense to me. How about you? Aside from the apparent dangers of a driver not being able to read and understand traffic instructions, consider the costs involved in writing, printing and administering 32 different exams instead of one standard form. Has any state official considered the absurdity of this practice? Of course, to put it to a vote we’d have to print the ballots in 32 different languages.
Back to the process of renewing my license. I had to affirm to the person behind the counter that the information on my renewal form was true and correct. They took my finger print and put me through an eye exam. Since I had cataract surgery on both eyes last year, I was able to pass the test without glasses for the first time in 20 years.
The last phase placed me in a long, slow-moving line for a photo (without glasses), along with another finger print and then the dreaded written exam. Renewals must take an 18 question test and are allowed only 3 wrong answers. I passed but was surprised to see how many failed. Having to go back and spend another couple of hours at the DMV on a beautiful, sunny, Southern California afternoon rather than being able to spend it sitting in traffic gridlock on a freeway would be a waste of time.
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