To get a Real ID, having a U.S. passport speeds up the line at the DMV
Q. Hi Honk! Yesterday I went to the Laguna Hills Department of Motor Vehicles to get the last kid a Real ID and was shocked they are no longer honoring appointments. I had made an appointment several months ago – this was the first available date. When I arrived, I went to the check-in area and explained we had an appointment to get a Real ID and was asked if we brought a U.S. passport; we said yes and were given a green slip. When I asked why it was green, I was told that it meant “expedited,” because transactions with U.S. passports are faster to process. They were serving H167 and I was given H202. The lady in front of me, who had no appointment, was given H201. Imagine my frustration at having requested an appointment such a long time ago to basically be told that walk-ins are being handled as fast as appointments. Yikes! Honk, if anyone can get to the bottom of this, it’s you!
– Matthew Jones, Irvine
A. Honk donned his deerstalker hat, Sherlock Holmes‘ style, and looked into the matter, Matthew.
At that office, those with or without an appointment get into one line because the DMV staffers there, armed with tablets, try to check in customers as soon as they arrive.
Marty Greenstein, a DMV spokesman up in Sacramento, said that appointments are certainly honored there – but those going after a Real ID who have a U.S. passport, but not an appointment, are given the same fast pass.
“Both are being prioritized,” Greenstein said about appointments and passports in regard to getting a Real ID. “There is no double prioritizing.”
Those with passports are prioritized for getting a Real ID, because such applications are easier to process.
“The more customers the DMV can serve quickly, the better it is for everybody waiting,” Greenstein said. “Valid U.S. passports typically are easier to verify because they are uniform, whereas other identity documents (a birth certificate, for instance) can vary depending on where it is issued.”
Some of the DMV’s 170 field offices may still offer two lines, one for appointments and the other for non-appointments in which having a passport won’t get the customer prioritized until they hit the front counter.
Q. Hey, Honk: Whenever there is heavy Caltrans work being done on the freeway and a lane is closed, there is always a California Highway Patrol officer parked in that closed lane. I always wonder why. Obviously, if an accident is going to happen, it surely will still happen anyway, even with the CHP there. Isn’t there something more productive this CHP officer can be doing? I see plenty of people daily on their cellphones while driving. Tickets aren’t going to be written if the CHP officer is sitting in his car watching Caltrans’ work being done. Is there an extra CHP officer dispatched for freeway patrol if one is tied up with Caltrans? Or is there now one less officer patrolling the freeways keeping us safe?
– Jose Smith, Huntington Beach
A. Yes, Jose, the officers at those sites are in addition to regular patrols. To make that work, the CHP officers do it on overtime for Caltrans, with the funding built into the construction project’s budget.
“(These) officers actively look for motorists who are driving unsafely within the highway work zones,” Duane Graham, a CHP officer and spokesman based at the Westminster station house, told Honk in an email. “The presence of CHP officers within the highway work zones serve as a reminder to the motoring public to slow down, observe and obey posted signage, and use care while driving through the work zone. …
“Services to enhance worker and motorist safety may include … roving patrol vehicles, stationary patrol vehicles or providing traffic control,” the officer added.
Caltrans determines when it wants the officers on site.
Honkin’ fact: Spotted in Long Beach, a fun license-plate number: A DOGTOR.
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk.