Results tagged “dmv”

DC Department of Motor Vehicles

D.C. residents who are subscribed to the District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles email alert system were reminded Monday that the agency has discontinued in-person vehicle registration renewals. The email, which was sent on the same day the change became effective, explained that from now on, for all vehicle registration renewals, customers must use online or by mail services. And if you missed the message and show up in person to a DMV service center, you'll be directed to a dropbox to drop off registration renewal requests for processing. Dropbox renewals will be processed within 48 business hours, the DMV says. The change is tied to Mayor Fenty's FY2010 budget plan, which proposed eliminating in-person vehicle registration renewals and most safety inspections in order to cut spending. You can sign-up for email notifications from the DMV at their web site.

A "lack of interior space" seems like a fairly redundant complaint about a DMV outpost, but in any case: the Brentwood Service Center outpost of the District Department of Motor Vehicles will close permanently on August 14. The move leaves Northeast residents in a bind, as that quadrant of the city will soon be the only one without a DMV service center.

John Hinckley, the man who shot President Reagan outside the Washington Hilton Hotel in 1981, has been granted the right to obtain a D.C. driver's license in order to drive to visit his mother in Williamsburg. U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman issued the ruling Tuesday that gives Hinckley more freedom and permission to spend more time away from St. Elizabeths Hospital, the Southeast D.C. mental hospital where he lives. Fingers crossed that Hinckley's upcoming visit to the D.C. DMV goes smoothly!

At least five D.C. DMV inspectors have been fired for accepting small cash bribes from cab drivers looking to sail through the inspection process despite deficiencies in their vehicles. Johnson's got photos, presumably taken by honest DMV employees, of the interiors of several taxis where drivers leave between $20-$50 for inspectors, hoping they'll look the other way.

The City Paper's Mike DeBonis may have the most intriguing news of the day -- under the 2010 budget proposal released today by Mayor Adrian Fenty, D.C. drivers would no longer have to get their cars inspected. Wait; what? Really? Well, kind of. You'll still have to head down to the city's one inspection station for a federally mandated emissions inspection, but no longer will you have to sit through the usual safety inspection that checks everything from seat belts to headlights and brakes. Doing away with the inspections will reportedly save $400,000 a year. Fenty's budget also calls for the DMV to "transition to an online and mail-in only system for vehicle registration renewals." You can currently renew your registration online and through the mail, though certain restrictions exist. What changes are made to adapt to an all online and mail-in system remain to be seen.

Buried at the bottom of this story by the Examiner's Michael Neibauer (which is about whether the DMV should change under-21 driver's licenses from having the photo be in profile to having the ID itself be printed vertically instead of horizontally -- both seem fine) is this little nugget: "The proposed DMV rules would also increase the number of years, from six to 17, before a person is required to get a new driver’s license photo." While some will argue that ID photos ought to be redone more often than that, other states have successfully extended driver's license validity, cutting down on trips to the DMV and the costs associated with processing renewals. Arizona was the first state to begin such a program: Arizona driver's licenses remain valid until the driver reaches the age of 65, though they are required to obtain a new photo every 12 years. Maryland requires drivers to renew every five years, while Virginia's are valid for eight years.

Via the Post's Get There blog, the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles has put in place a number of new regulations starting today. The fees to renew a D.C. driver's license or identification card has gone up from $39 to $44. That's not too big of a hike, and the good news is that those licenses will now be valid for eight years, instead of only five. That works out to $5.50 per year versus $7.80 per year before, so in a real way, it actually costs less now.

Do you own a car and have it registered in the District of Columbia? If so, you've already been through the nightmare of attempting to get your vehicle inspected at the District's only inspection facility at 1001 Half Street SW. Many of you have complained that there has to be a more efficient way to conduct inspections - well, now there is. WTOP reports that the D.C. DMV is now accepting reservations for appointments at the inspection station between 6:30 a.m. and 6 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. One word of advice though, for those of you with ESP: appointments scheduled during a major heat wave could get bumped.

Federal workers may have had Christmas Eve off of work this year, but D.C. Department of Public Works parking enforcement officers apparently did not. No matter, though: DPW says it will dismiss tickets doled out during rush hour on Dec. 24, says WTOP. DPW Director William Howland Jr. explained that the agency believes "that many people thought enforcement was lifted since federal workers were given the day off."

It’s not like you go to the D.C. DMV to chat up the happy employees as it is. Now, reports the Examiner, when it comes to getting rid of parking tickets, you might not have the choice. The DMV is proposing moving all ticket adjudication services to postal mail or the Internet as a means of streamlining the process. The motivation? The number of tickets is expected to skyrocket next year as the city...

The Examiner reports on a new DMV program that would install SmarTrip chips into every new D.C. driver's license and identification card beginning in October, 2008. The program is a combined effort by the agency and WMATA, the latter of which has made no secret of its intention to make universal conversion to SmarTrip a priority. Recently Metro General Manager John Catoe made SmarTrip cards available for sale at more Giant Food stores and announced...

As of this morning, The Red Derby showed very little evidence of its upcoming grand opening this evening at 6 p.m. The only thing separating itself from the laundromat and carryout on either side is a red logo painted above the doorway. The painting is so simple a child could have drawn it – is it a zit? A misshapen condom? Or perhaps the rear shot of a sleeping hippo? It’s actually a derby...

Of all the city government's agencies and departments, it's usually the big names that get the lions share of criticism from residents. The schools, the DMV, the public libraries, the Department of Public Works -- it's these that we're all quick to point to as proof of government incompetence. But with the fire that destroyed an entire building in Adams Morgan on Monday, it was the Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) that came under fire...

In a town where motorcades are less a spectacle and more an annoyance, Mayor Adrian Fenty's modest security detail has never raised many eyebrows. But now Fenty has done away with it altogether -- and no one really knows why. According to a Post report, Fenty has decided to ditch the police security detail and drive himself around during the month of August instead. And beyond simply shedding daily armed protection, Fenty has also been...

To be honest, Washington, it's taking everything we've got not to put up eight or nine posts today just indulging in our need to whine about how nasty hot it is outside. Apparently the humidity today and tomorrow is going to be so intense, it could feel like it's 105 degrees. Can we all agree that this is not OK? OK. Thanks. We'll move on to the headlines then, and by "move on" we don't...

From DC.gov: The District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles Georgetown Service Center, located at 3222 M Street, NW in the Georgetown Park Mall - Lower Level, is experiencing an air conditioning outage. Temperatures were at 89 degrees inside the facility at 8:15 am (the scheduled opening time) and will not open for service today, July 19. Seventeen customers were waiting outside the facility prior to the scheduled opening and were allowed to come into...

Welcome back to work, Washington. This week promises not only to feel longer than normal thanks to its coming on the heels of a holiday, but also hot enough that you might want to consider setting up an ad-hoc shower in your office, as there's little chance you'll get there without breaking into a sweat first. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has issued a Code Orange alert because of the heat wave, and...

On Monday we told you about a bill before the D.C. Council that would lift restrictions such as mandatory driving and written tests for District drivers over the age of 75. Now the Mayor's office has released a statement that Mayor Adrian Fenty has temporarily lifted the driving test without waiting for action from the Council.

The AP has a good piece this morning on the debate over whether D.C.'s regulations are too tough on older drivers who are trying to renew their driver's licenses. Currently, D.C. law requires drivers over 75 to again pass a road test and a written exam of driving rules. A year ago, D.C. began imposing what are among the nation's most stringent requirements on drivers 75 and older. Only two states, Illinois and New Hampshire,...

No, when rising in the wee hours of the morning to we didn't suffer a sudden wave of nostalgia for bad perms, The Bangles and "Mr. Belvedere". We were confronted by all four networks confirming that temps are hitting eighty degrees today. Awesome. This mild weather was welcome news for the hundreds of Georgetown students who camped out in line to get their hands on one of the 1,000 tickets made available around 9:00...

Everyone has that one friend. You know the one. The one who steadfastly maintains, Rain Man-style, that he is an excellent driver. Yet you know that the simple act of taking the passenger seat with him behind the wheel tends to be an exercise in faith that today is not your day to die. Then there's that other friend. The borderline racist/misogynist/homophobe/pick your offensive personality type, whose attitudes usually hover just below your tolerance line....

If all goes as planned, two years from now, 150 condominiums, six townhouses, and a handful of new shops will flank the entrance to the Georgia Avenue Metro Station. The $60 million project known as Park Place broke ground on Monday, and is being led by Bethesda-based Donatelli Development Inc., one of the nation's leading investors in transit-oriented development. So far Donatelli has worked closely on development plans with Petworth residents, promising 20 percent low-income units with a portion of those set aside for people making less than 30 percent of the city's median income.

Just a little public service announcement for our readers who drive. If you by any chance need to initiate or renew your vehicle registration this month and require an inspection, you'll need to get to the SW Inspection Station earlier than normal. The Half Street SW station will be observing code red heat advisory service hours beginning today and at least through Wednesday, which means they'll be opening at 5 a.m. and closing at 1...

Proving that heat is no match for the power of government efficiency, the District has announced a number of measures to fight what is expected to be the hot and hellish days ahead. They've got cooling centers, fans for special needs residents, extended hours at public swimming pools, and street showers. They've even changed the operating hours at the DMV's Inspection Station in Southwest until Wednesday. We are, of course, a little bummed that the...

If you're new to the city and have a car with out-of-state tags, you best head down to the DMV and get some D.C. plates soon -- if not, you might find yourself shelling out $100 a day in fines.

And just around the time that we were going to pronounce that D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams' official blog was on life support, he swoops in to save the day with an engaging post longer than most of his other posts combined. While his most recent foray into the world of blogging included a spiritual take on handling the daily stresses of his job, yesterday Williams dug through his mail and offered us an insight into...

One of our readers wrote in to Overheard in DC to let us know that while she doesn't ride the metro, she's been noticing a different form of communication: car decor. As a commuter who drives, she has noticed an inordinate amount of Virginia vanity license plates. The reader writes: Many proclaim their political and religious affiliations via bumpersticker. Although I think the Honda with the Gore 2000 sticker needs to give up the ghost....

Thanks to our friends over at DC Metblogs, today we learned that our much-beloved Panda Cam ranked as one of the 25 most interesting webcams of 2005.