Guest View: DVS drives people away

The Department of Vehicle Services continues to be an issue throughout the state, specifically when it comes to accessing behind-the-wheel drivers tests. Families have grown frustrated with the current backlog that seems to be growing every year. To make matters worse, when families are lucky enough to find open appointments, it oftentimes means driving across the state. DVS representatives came to the Senate Transportation Committee a few weeks ago to offer an updated solution to this problem: closing half of all testing locations.

In 2021, the Office of the Legislative Auditor released a report that noted, “DVS has been unable to consistently satisfy a requirement in law that establishes a maximum wait time of 14 days for Class D road tests,” and “DVS lacks a systematic approach to forecasting demand for Class D road tests.” This has clearly been an ongoing problem.

In response to this report, DVS began implementing changes to its structure. Recently, DVS came to the Senate Transportation committee to present their results, and to propose additional plans to address concerns and further reduce the backlog. You can imagine our shock when we heard that their proposal meant eliminating 47 testing stations throughout the state.

In their report one section stated, “… Demand for appointments continues to far outpace the resources available to conduct those exams… As is discussed later in this report, DVS supports consolidating to 46 exam stations.” Reasoning for the change was also stated, “DVS has considered that this plan will require some Minnesota residents to drive further to take an exam than they might need to today. However, this is balanced against the fact that most individuals only need to pass the driving exam one time in their life.”

I find this to be an incredible disservice to the very people DVS is meant to serve. In my district specifically, we will lose testing locations in Moose Lake, Mora, and Pine City. That means folks in the area will have 3 “close” options: Chisago City, Cambridge, and Duluth. This is simply not a viable solution for families in those areas.

In previous years, DVS asked for funding to expand locations into greater Minnesota. DVS proposed this as a solution because it meant that these “satellite” locations would allow folks in the more rural areas to have access to testing appointments without having to drive across the state to access them. Unfortunately, it didn’t fully address the problem and the backlog continued to grow. Now, DVS is proposing a move in the opposite direction: eliminating those new testing locations while maintaining the funding they were given to open them. Their “solution” makes life easier for them, but much harder for the folks they should be serving.

I’m disappointed in this solution and believe it will not address the problem. If anything, it’s going to worsen the burden for many, and will make it more costly for folks to get to these appointments.

Though this is just a proposal, I find it troubling that this is what they put forward. This is a wholly inadequate non-solution, and I hope they go back to the drawing board to find a real solution that helps Minnesotans.

To contact State Sen. Jason Rarick, email [email protected] or call his office in St. Paul at 651-296-1508.