Articles Posted in DMV Issues

The California DMV resumed behind-the-wheel testing beginning Friday, June 26.  Drivers and DMV instructors will be required to wear face masks and drivers will be asked to lower two windows to increase air flow in the car. Pre-test instructions will be given  outside the car. DMV examiners will also wear gloves and place plastic covers on the passenger seat and floorboard as precautions against transmission of the coronavirus. Applicants will be required to wear a face covering and answer screening questions before starting the exam. Temperature checks will be added to safety protocols  in the coming weeks.

There has been a  three month backlog of behind-the-wheel testing as a result of  the DMV closing all of its 169 field offices and cancelling  all appointments in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some offices were reopened in May and the rest resumed operations in June, but no behind-the-wheel tests have taken place since mid-March.

The DMV will automatically reschedule all canceled driving test appointments and  anticipates it will take several weeks to complete testing for previously canceled tests. Appointments for new behind-the-wheel tests will not be available until previously canceled tests are completed.

The decrease in traffic during the COVID-19 shelter in place, has seen an increase in speeding tickets for driving over 100 mph.

‘From March 19, when the state’s stay-at-home order began, to April 19, the CHP issued 2,493 citations for speeding more than 100 mph, as compared with 1,335 during the same period last year.” (100-mph speeding tickets soar statewide: Gary Richards, Roadshow

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/23/100-mph-speeding-tickets-soar-statewide-roadshow/)

Except in cases involving a commercial license, attending traffic school should mask the conviction pursuant to Vehicle Code section 1808.7

Vehicle Code section 1808.7 and traffic school

Vehicle Code section 1808.7 provides for masking of infractions for which a driver attended traffic school. It states that:

Governor Newsom has selected a technology consultant from Silicon Valley, Steve Gordon, to modernize the DMV’s decades old computer system which is in part responsible for the long wait times and dysfunction which has beset the agency. Anticipating long wait lines as Californians obtain Real ID’s- federally mandated identification cards-the Governor aims to restore trust in DMV operations after the agency mishandled the rollout of an automatic voter registration system.

Governor Newsom is thinking outside the box in not appointing a career bureaucrat to head to DMV, but a Silicon Valley outsider. It should be interesting to watch. Often times when people with business backgrounds enter government service, they run into trouble because they are not used to dealing with the general inherent governmental bureaucracies and inefficiencies. The DMV has long been mired in bureaucratic missteps and poor access.

Gordon applied for the job on the DMV website and the Governor credited his initiative and background at Cisco systems, where he was Vice President of technical services from 1993-2011. Gordon’s experience addressing things that were going wrong should help improve customer service at the DMV where wait times in excess of two hours is a regular occurrence. DMV Director Jean Shiomoto retired in December.Newsom took office in January and formed a “strike team” to fix the DMV, calling the department “chronically mismanaged.”

Everyone knows that certain offenses can result in your accumulating points on your California driver’s license, and everyone should know that those points are a serious matter as too many points in too short a span of time can result in the loss of your driving privileges. Most people know generally what kind of infractions result in points – things like speeding, reckless driving, drunk driving, hit-and-run, and having an accident where you’re at fault, to name a few.

However, it is possible to be completely sober, driving under the speed limit and be involved in no accident and still incur a ticket that results in points. How? One way it happens is when you’re ticketed for improper child safety restraint. As with any charge where points are on the line, always be sure to consult an experienced San Francisco DMV defense attorney to discuss the legal options available to you.

California Vehicle Code Section 27360 is the law that requires drivers to secure certain child passengers in a specific way. The law applies to all children under the age of 8 years old. For kids age 2 through 7, they must be in a proper car seat or booster in the vehicle’s back seat, unless they are more than 4’9” tall. For children under 2, they must be in a rear-facing car seat in the vehicle back seat. That rule also applies to older kids who are under 40 inches tall and under 40 pounds.