After four days, four DMV visits and untold hours I am finally a legal driver and have cleared my name from an unknown Jason Williams on the other side of the country.
During my fourth visit to DMV, I made sure to time myself in line, because liberals were downplaying my experience by saying “just because the line was long doesn’t mean it didn’t move quickly”. My watch clocked my waiting at 37 minutes of sheer joy.
While waiting, one elderly lady came in and walked right into the express line but was soon re-directed to a new line of people where you get your numbered ticket so that you can officially wait in the express line. She asked why. I said “Maam. This is DMV, you have to wait in line in order to wait in line.” Everyone around me laughed.
As stated in an earlier post [1], I was denied a driver’s license because someone in Alabama had an unpaid traffic ticket that happen to have the same first name, last name and birthday.
I finally got a faxed letter from Alabama stating “we have no objection to your state issuing him a driver license.” Gee thanks. Upon being cleared, the DMV clerk noted that this incident “happens all the time”. We both talked about how the problem lies at the federal level which has a database of outstanding traffic tickets but only lists first/last name an birthday — for which traps thousands of people who have the same name but are innocent. Someone told me that Williams is the 27th most common last name in Oregon.
All the paperwork, phone calls and line waiting is also unfair to the kind people at Oregon and Alabama DMV who have to endure under a system that creates extra paperwork. The idea that I have to show legal documents and give up my social security number just to get Alabama to release the middle name or race of the mystery person who has an outstanding ticket is just silly and unnecessary.
Thank you everyone for your comments.