A California DMV audit has been ordered by the governor for the ridiculous wait times reported by motorists at numerous DMV field offices across the state.
Based on a law practice that deals with DMV offices across California every day, we could add our own observations that we hope the audit addresses. First, the Mandatory Actions Unit frequently does not even answer its phone, dumping callers after navigating the long voice-response queue. MAU is the front-line of contact for the significant number of motorists involved in licensing actions, and it is inexcusable that they cannot get through. Second, in the last 12 months or so, we have noticed increasing numbers of calls and letters to Driver Safety offices simply being ignored. San Francisco Driver Safety is the lead culprit, pretending numerous times not to have received facsimile transmissions and refusing to do anything about it.
State Finance Director Keely Martin Bosler (who is appointed by Brown) notified the agency that her office will conduct the California DMV audit amid concerns about the agency’s performance.
“As we have discussed, long wait times at the Department of Motor Vehicles do not reflect the high standards of service that Californians expect from their state government,” Bosler wrote in a letter Friday to DMV Director Jean Shiomoto. Shiomoto responded that DMV welcomes “the Department of Finance’s input into DMV’s ongoing efforts to reduce wait times and improve customer service and stand ready to assist with the audit.”
The delays have been worsened by frequent computer crashes, including one Thursday that interrupted operations at 68 of the DMV’s 172 field offices for more than two hours.
We have long wondered why Governor Brown has tolerated such obvious ineptitude for so long. The California DMV audit now guarantees that any changes will be made by his successor and the Legislature elected in November.