The Busted
DMV

As the longtime director of the Division of Motor Vehicles in West Dakota, you have learned to cope with criticism. Indeed, your agency may be the most criticized in the state. This, of course, is not unique to West Dakota. In many states, the motor vehicle agency has come to stand for the ultimate in mindless delay and red tape. On a slow news day, any reporter can visit the nearest DMV office and write yet another story about inconsiderate bureaucrats and outraged citizens.

In West Dakota, the most obvious symbol of the DMV's problem has for many years been the length of the lines. Not that they are always long. At mid-morning and mid-afternoon in most branches, it's possible to show up for license renewal and not have to wait more than a few minutes. But motorists who come in at 8:30 a.m., when the office opens, or at lunchtime, or at the end of the work day, are in for a long and frustrating experience that leaves them cursing your employees, you personally, and all of state government.

Some of these latecomers are still waiting in line when the office closes for the day. The office manager either has to send them home — a move that may be hazardous to his health — or else pay his staff overtime to remain and handle the stragglers.

Several years ago, you made it possible for people to use a credit card to pay both their fees and their tickets. That turned out to be a big help. Still, many citizens simply don't read the information you send them. Thus, some of the problems are the customers' fault. People often arrive at the division's offices unprepared. Some don't bring the necessary paperwork. Others seem surprised that, in addition to the fee for their license or car registration, they also have to pay off their outstanding parking tickets. All too often, when a DMV employee explains to a citizen that renewing a license or registering a car will require a second trip back to the DMV office, the confrontation can become unpleasant.

This unpleasantness is contagious. When a citizen who failed to read your mailing blames his problem on an employee, the employee reacts with predictable indignation. Indeed, DMV staff have developed a well-practiced repertoire of responses to the most common citizen complaints. The employees are prepared for obnoxious citizens, and citizens are prepared for obnoxious DMV employees.

And the facilities don't help either. Most of your local offices reek of bureaucracy: walls painted a dull green; lighting that is inadequate; chairs that appear to be hand-me-downs from a local church. Why? To anyone who has dealt with the state's general services agency, the answer is actually pretty obvious: "low bid."

Still, when people complain, they complain mostly about the lines. And, they complain a lot. They complain to the DMV staff. They complain to the newspapers. They complain to their legislators. And they complain to the governor. The governor's correspondence office deals with a steady stream of protests about your agency. In any given month, citizens may write more letters to the governor about a legislative fight or a critical policy issue. But on an annual basis, your agency is the most frequent target.

Like other organizations in both the public and private sectors that conduct a variety of predictable and repetitive tasks, your agency has employed technology to streamline processes, simplify tasks, cut staff and reduce operating costs. Whenever you introduced the latest computers or processes, you inevitably uncovered technological and human kinks. But your staff has been able to work out both kinds of kinks relatively quickly. Thus, you have already taken advantage of the technological improvements that are most obvious, easiest to implement and promise the biggest impact. But the DMV is no more popular around the state than it was before all of the changes and modernizations took place.

The bottom line is that technology cannot solve your problem. The core of your work is human-to-human interaction. Even when a citizen renews his license by mail and never sees a DMV employee, the interaction remains personal. If the DMV employee who wrote the instructions doesn't make them clear, or if the citizen who reads the instructions is not careful, this human interaction breaks down. Technology can compensate for some of these human frailties, but there is no way it can eliminate them altogether.

West Dakota's newly elected governor knows that the DMV has significant operational problems. She also doesn't want to spend any significant time or money dealing with them. Her priorities are economic development and education reform, not micromanaging the motor vehicles office.

Nevertheless, she well recognizes that, before she stands for reelection, a majority of the voters will deal with your agency. She doesn't want them seething with anger and blaming their frustration on her. Thus, although she has reappointed you, she makes it clear that you have a year to produce some real, measurable improvements or she will find another DMV director.

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