DRIVERS
NOT HAPPENING IN BAY COUNTY
Bay County Tax Collector Chuck Perdue, for example, is not following the state’s procedures for remote testing. He scoffed at the idea that a road test could be conducted in any other way than with an examiner in the car.
“Road tests, with the examiner in the car, is truly the only way that you can assess someone’s skill set and demeanor as well as meet the department’s requirements,” Perdue told the News Service in an interview Wednesday.
“In closed courses, you can’t really see how a person is going to interact with the traffic or handle intersections,” he added.
Perdue said his office resumed road tests in May. The tests are conducted with an examiner in the car, and people are required to wear masks to prevent the spread of the virus.
The office has also put in place a series of other measures to prevent the spread of the virus, Perdue said.
When drivers arrive at the office by appointment only, they are asked a series of questions, including whether they have visited a hospital or a prison, or if they have traveled outside of the country or to Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, which have been hot spots for COVID-19.
“We will greet them outside of the front door. We will take their temperatures. We will require them to wear a mask, and if they don’t have one, we will provide one. Then they will sanitize their hands,” Perdue said.
Perdue said all 65 employees and their household members were offered COVID-19 testing at no cost to ensure that the office opened to the public with a healthy workforce. So far, 107 tests have been conducted, and all came back negative, he said.
After seeing a significant drop in the number of driver’s licenses issued in March and April, Perdue said he wanted to restart road testing as soon as possible.
In April, 65 driver’s licenses were issued, compared to the 3,800 licenses issued last April, he said.
SOUTH FLORIDA OFFICES STILL CLOSED
As Bay County restarts road tests, driver’s license offices in a number of Florida counties and state-operated offices in MiamiDade, Broward and Volusia counties have not reopened.
In Duval County, no date has been scheduled for when driving tests will restart, Sherry Hall, the chief deputy tax collector, told the News Service.
Hall said the office wants to follow the state’s guidance on allowing examiners to conduct road tests outside of vehicles, but it does not have a “confined driving course” that would be conducive to that type of test.
“So right now, locally, we are trying to find a location where we could begin to administer the tests in that way,” she said. “We don’t have a date yet, but we are actively working on it.”
Manuel Pena, the owner of Maria Auto School Co. in Miami, a third-party administrator of driver’s license exams, said the few students he has had in the last couple of months are waiting for offices to reopen so they can finalize the process of getting driver’s licenses.
“At this moment, we are on freeze by [the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles],” Pena, said in an interview with the News Service. “Everything has stopped because students have to go get their photos taken and go through that process.”
But his driving school is open for business. He said each instructor is taking precautions and wears a “double mask,” a mask and a plastic shield, during road tests with students.
“We need to take care of ourselves,” he said. “Nobody wants to die.”