O’Scanlon: Make Drivers’ Licenses Expire On Birthdays

Declan O’Scanlon

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon is the best friend New Jersey drivers have in Trenton.

The Monmouth County legislator who defeated red light cameras today announced that he is introducing legislation that will reduce the end of the month waiting lines at Motor Vehicle Commission offices by changing the date that drivers’ licenses expire from the last day of the month to the birthday of the driver.

“I’ve been working with Governor Christie’s administration on legislation that would ease the long wait times that New Jersey drivers experience when renewing their license at their local MVC office. I am pleased that the Governor has thrown his support behind this common sense solution to a serious problem facing New Jersey’s drivers. I urge legislative leadership in both houses to post the bill – which will be introduced during our next session day – so we can end unnecessarily long wait times for New Jersey residents and drivers.

This legislation recognizes that it’s human nature to procrastinate. The way the system is set up now we have 12 days a year – the last day of every month – upon which drivers’ licenses expire. If you spend any time at an MVC you can’t miss the bottleneck that this causes the last few days or week of every month. By going to a birth date expiration schedule we will eliminate the bottle neck. It’s a common sense solution that’s worked in other states. New Jersey motorists have been plagued with long wait times – we owe it to them to do all in our power to alleviate that inconvenience. We are currently working with Commissioner Martinez’ office on the final bill. Again I applaud the administration for taking these issues seriously.”

O’Scanlon’s announcement comes on the heals of Governor Christie’s announcement of series of MVC reforms at an agency office in Morris County this morning.

Christie announced a series of new initiatives:

MVC will eliminate the current applicable online transaction fees by Oct. 1, in an attempt to encourage motorists to use online services.

The governor called on the legislature to pass a bill that would change expiration dates from the last day of the month to drivers’ birthdays, part of a plan to spread out customer transactions more evenly over the entire calendar month, eliminating lines. This would be O’Scanlon’s bill.

The MVC will utilize AAA for registration renewals. MVC is working with AAA to expand customer access.

There will be an “express” lane for driver’s license processing, which allows customers to bypass the ID check stations and get in line at the Enhanced Digital Driver License counters.

The MVC will increase the number of enhanced digital driver’s license cameras in 10 of its busiest agencies: Bakers Basin, Springfield, East Orange, Turnersville, Somerville, South Plainfield, Edison, Rahway, North Bergen and Wallington.