Drivers afraid of contracting coronavirus at DMV offices to get 60-day grace period
With some drivers expressing fear of crowded DMV field offices, the California Department of Motor Vehicles on Monday night asked law state enforcement to give motorists a 60-day grace period for expired licenses.
“The DMV is taking this action so that at-risk populations, including seniors and those with underlying health conditions, can avoid required visits to DMV field offices for driver license or vehicle registration renewals,” state officials said in a news release. It was reiterated in a video update by California Gov. Gavin Newsom a few minutes later.
The 60-day period, which will extend to mid-May, “is intended to protect the health and safety of DMV customers who would otherwise have to come to a DMV office to take care of business, but are concerned during this coronavirus pandemic.”
The DMV is asking law officials — California Highway Patrol and local police — to exercise discretion when dealing with drivers who registration or license has expired during that period.
The governor’s office and the DMV have come under criticism from some residents who question why they should be compelled to go to a field office when the governor has asked people 65 and older to self-isolate at home for now, and has told others to stay 6 feet apart from each other.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new guidelines, issued Sunday, are focused on keeping society’s most at-risk group, older people, from contracting the coronavirus. But the governor declined to shut down field offices.
On Monday, health officials in six Bay Area counties ordered all residents there to shelter in place, essentially to stay at home for the next few weeks in a dramatic attempt to reduce the spread of the virus. Officials said residents could move about to take care of “essential” matters. DMV officials did not address whether or not Bay Area residents should continue to maintain appointments at field offices there.
Some 550 California residents have tested positive for the virus as of Monday night, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus data center (the state’s total is 335 as of Monday night). Seven of them had died. The virus started in December in China and has since spread internationally. The World Health Organization has declared a pandemic, and the U.S. government has declared a national emergency.
In Sacramento County, two people have died from the virus.
Transactions that require a DMV office visit include: new driver license, duplicate driver license, some driver license renewals, new license plates, complex vehicle registrations or title transfers and off-highway permits.
The state is under a federal mandate to distribute new, secure Real ID drivers licenses to anyone who wants one by Oct. 1 of this year. After that date, California residents will no longer be allowed to use their older, non-secure drivers licenses as valid identification at federal Transportation Security Administration airport checkpoints for domestic flights.
State residents who do not have a Real ID can use their federal passports instead as legal identification to fly.
Drivers can only obtain a Real ID card in person at a field office.
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 8:25 PM with the headline "Drivers afraid of contracting coronavirus at DMV offices to get 60-day grace period."