Coronavirus spreads. But don't panic! (topical thread)

[mordant]

Oh dear.  What a fuckup mate!  Here in Oz we can renew our driver's license and car registration online.
Surely the US would've implemented this by now as a standard procedure for renewals?  Or is this only
in your state?

—And I have to ask;  why do you need an "appointment" anyway.  What happens at the appointment?
Strip search, cavity search, drug testing, beatings with a phone book?

Well, you have to renew your drivers license every 8 years so you go into the Department of Motor Vehicles, stand in a long line (usually about 45 minutes) then you fill out a DMV form and give the clerk evidence of your place of residence, your birth certificate, social security number and of course, money!  They take a photo of you that makes you look like death warmed over, or at the very least a mug shot by the police after a night of heavy drinking and a few weeks later you get your spanking new license in the mail.  That's how it WAS done. 

But now because of Covid you make an appointment.  It looks to be about  3 or 4 customers at a time and masks are required.

In Mass. it’s every five years and you can renew every other time online, so it’s 10 years between actual RMV visits.

I don't know if it's changed since I left in 2009, but when I lived in AZ the frequency was ridiculously long, 20 years IIRC, unless you're over 65, in which case it drops to, I believe, 5 years.

I had a friend who was a very privileged retired captain of industry, and big into cars. He had wet macular degeneration and went to some lengths to avoid the eye exam. Driving was a big deal to him and he insisted on driving despite the safety issues. He would take the wheel on the freeway with his wife spotting him, but told a story of a close call on an interstate trip, where something fell off the flatbed truck he was following and he didn't see it and nearly hit it. The day after that he pulled up to the coffee shop we guys frequented and drove the car up over the concrete barrier.

Finally I could stand it no longer and I took advantage of a safety feature that Arizona had evolved: since there was such a long time between DMV visits and it was fairly easy even then to avoid the driving and vision tests, there was a toll-free confidential report line where you could rat people like my friend out. I did so and he was relieved of his license in short order. He was red-faced livid and demanded to know who had done this to him. Everyone held the line, and he never found out. He just stopped coming to coffee.

I hated to do that to him, but he was endangering other people's lives, as well as his wife's and his own. Selfish asshole. Perfect illustration of what ridiculous privilege wealth accustoms you to.