Adventures at the Oregon DMV

January 09 included five trips to the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles in St. Helens. Both DeeDee's and my California Driver's Licenses were due to expire on our birthdays in 09, Jan 24 for DeeDee and May 26 for me.   By January 12th we decided we really needed to get DeeDee's Oregon DL ASAP and that I might as well get mine at the same time.   Off we went to the DMV Office.    Since we both still had valid California DLs, all we had to do was to just pass the written test to get our ODLs.   It only costs $5 to take the test.   Being the giving person that I am, I decided that since Oregon, like every other state, is in dire need of extra income, I should help the State's fiscal condition by taking the test twice, thus donating an extra $5 to the DMV instead of being a piker like DeeDee who only took the test once.    I guess you can read between the lines that, yes, Mr. Ex-Police Officer me failed the written test the first time.   I am sure I pressed the correct answers on the computer screen, but I suspect that there was a computer glitch on Machine 3 and somehow my "correct" answers were miss-read.    But since 13 is also a lucky number for me, maybe I was destined to have to wait until the next day, Jan 13th, to pass the test, which I did with 100%, and we are each now both officially in possession of our Oregon Drivers Licenses.

The next adventure began on January 16th.   Hanna had signed up to take Driver's Education at Scappoose High, which was scheduled to start on January 27th.   In order to take Driver's Ed, she has to be in possession of an Oregon Instruction Permit.   To get the Permit, Hanna would be required to pass the same written driving test we took.   Hanna studied the handbook from DMV and on Friday Jan 16th I picked her up from school at 3:15 and we went to DMV.    Hanna was at the computer from about 3:45 until a few minutes after 5.   She finally got up with the same look I probably had after my first attempt at passing the test, because the computer had shut down on her, due to too many wrong answers.   There are 35 questions and the minimum passing score is 80% - if you miss 8 questions, the computer automatically shuts down at the 8th wrong answer.   Fortunately you can take the test again on the next day.   So back to DMV we went after school on Tuesday the 20th since DMV was closed on Monday due to the MKL Holiday.   I guess Hanna, like me, wanted to do her part, and more, for Oregon's fiscal state, so she donated a second $5 to the DMV by again missing too many questions.     The staff at the DMV Office is really friendly, unlike California DMV employees.    The lady suggested that when Hanna came back to take the test the next time, she might want to ask for a printed copy of the test, so that she would not have to deal with a one time choice of an answer on the computer, and because it might be easier for her to read the questions on paper than on the computer screen - once you commit to an answer on the computerized test, it is locked in, whereas with the written test, Hanna would be able to go back and change an answer later if she wanted to.   Either way, I was just amazed that she was doing so well reading and comprehending as much as she was.  The lady also told Hanna she could come back up to the counter as often as she needed if she did not understand the meaning of any of the words.  On Wednesday, Jan 21st we returned to DMV when they opened at 9 AM so that Hanna would not also feel any time constraint to finish by 5 PM when DMV closes.  The examiner gave Hanna a written test to take and she passed easily - too bad we didn't do that the first time.    

So now we three are all the proud holders of either a valid Oregon Driver's License or Instruction Permit, in addition to Hanna and I going the extra mile by donating $15 to the financial coffers of the State of Oregon - isn't fiscal stewardship a wonderful thing?