The nation’s governors are right to see red over the REAL ID Act, which cleared Congress this spring and promises to complicate getting a driver’s license nationwide. Kansas seems to be in the enviable position of having already implemented some of the law’s security measures. But other states are looking at huge new costs and predicting long lines, as drivers show up and find out they don’t have the proper documents. It seems inappropriate for Congress to have deputized motor vehicle clerks in the war on terrorism without fully consulting with states and examining all the consequences.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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30 Comments
The next thing to happen is bar-code tattooed on our foreheads and we’ll just be “scanned” for personal information.
Instead of an unsightly bar code, maybe we can have the computer chip put under our skin, like they do on our pets (just kidding).
I just renewed my license and it cost me nearly $35 (I’m a licensed motorcycle rider). I think the cost is outrageous! Barcode on your forehead? Subcutanious implant? Sounds like the Mark of the Beast to me, LOL.
This process just goes to show what kind of society we live in. It’s sad when a resident who was born and raised in the United States has to jump through hoops to take full advantage of our privilege to drive. What’s even worse is that in Sedgwick County (and most other counties in KS I’m certain) there is only ONE location to get a driver’s license or have one renewed. Sure doesn’t make sense that 500,000 + residents have to share ONE facility!
Excellent point Tracy. I live in Bel Aire, I went to the mall on south Oliver and found a note saying I had to go clear across Wichita to get a damn license. We have golf courses all over the place, but only one DMV office?
The lines at the DMV is loooooong also!
We should raise the drivers license fee even higher to pay for better education. The courts need to force the legislature to come up with another $850 million like the consultants recommended. This is one way to do it.
A $500 license fee would be reasonable. Poor people can’t afford cars, anyway, so the higher cost won’t affect them.
We can save money on county renewal offices by outsourcing the whole job to Bangladesh. Then we can get our licenses over the internet and migrant workers can get their lisences wherever they are.
Brown, why are you kidding? Computer chips would be a good way to identify bushy headed neocon koolaid drinkers and keep them off the streets.
I know the previous post was meant to be a bit tongue in cheek but I really do think that the fee for a license should be raised to at least $100.
I think you should also be required to take certified driver-ed and defensive driving courses prior to obtaining a license. Wichita drivers suck!
Turn signals are obviously a feature on cars you can opt out of when purchasing a new auto as I rarely if ever see them being used. Wichita drives also don’t understand the concept of “zippering” or merging onto a motorway.
In the UK, drivers pay a much higher licensing fee and also are required to drive with a sticker in their window for 2 years which alerts other drivers that they are newly licensed and they might want to show a bit of courtesy or perhaps avoid altogether.
I also think we should start having emissions standards and testing. This would remove a lot of old clunkers off the roads. But in true Wichita fashion rather than address the issue before it becomes a problem the City Council will wait until it gets out of control and then hire a million dollar consulting firm from OUTSIDE Wichita to do a study and inform them they need to start performing emissions testing.
We also need to improve our Mass-Transit system. While they were widening Kellogg it wouldn’t have cost much more to put the infrastructure for a light rail system in place. Even if we didn’t need it for another 10-15 years at least the space would be reserved for future construction.
The bus system needs to be cleaned up and classed up. There is no reason we couldn’t have Park-and-Rides in East and West Wichita that made trips downtown every 15-30 minutes. This would reduce the congestion downtown and eliminate the need to raze every other building to provide future parking garages.
Regards,BizSnype
I agree with some of your point Biz.
The drivers do suck. I moved from the KC area 5 years ago, and my insurance went up 31%. Yes… 31%. When I asked the insurance person why, she said that the drivers suck!
You are 100% correct with the blinker issue. I just took my car into the shop last week to have my blinkers fixed (had a short in them). I bet they were freaking out that someone in Wichita realized that their blinkers didn’t work. Hell, I thought it was just the cars in Wichita didn’t come with blinkers.
Then you have the problem where people stop to make a right hand turn, yet they don’t stop when coming out onto a main street.
Or they’ll pull out right in front of you. My policy is this: If I pull out in front of you, I better be hitting the speed limit before you catch up to me!
Am I the only person that knows what the acceleration lane (on ramp) means? I think I am the only person around that has to slow down to get on the highway.
“They that can give up essential libert to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Ben Franklin
REAL ID was passed under shady circumstances at best. It is yet another unfunded mandate for national security. It is ridiculous to trust DMV personnel with this type of work…it’s not their job! We should not be a country where every scrap of personal information is catalogued and crossreferenced in some giant government database, (Remember Total Information Awareness?), the IRS couldn’t keep taxpayers tax returns safe, so how will they keep all of this safe? Are we going to get fingerprinted and DNA tested at the same time? It’s ridiculous and completely against the real ideals that our country was founded on.
By the way, I completely disagree with raising the price of licenses. That will only result in even more unlicensed drivers taking to the road. Wichita has basically no mass transit and people have to get to work…they will drive without a license if they have to.
I agree Nicki. No need to raise prices. What for, so the government can pocket more money, or pay for useless stuff?
Let’s be serious here. Back when I was in school (over 20 years ago), there wasn’t a problem with school funding. What has happened since then? I know one thing: A couple of weeks ago, our great lawmakers in Kansas “worked” long hours to fight over $148 million for schools. Their “work” cost us $230,000. Excuse me??? Why? I didn’t know they got paid hourly. If they wouldn’t sit on their asses all day, or out playing golf, or traveling, they could have done all of this budget crap during the day.Why should the taxpayer pay for their overtime when they failed to do their job? I know if I failed to do my job, I’d be at home filling out resume’s!!
I can’t believe there’s a thread where we all seem to be in agreement. I moved here 6 years ago and I couldn’t believe the drivers here in Wichita. 20% drive like they want to die, and another 20% drive like they want to kill somebody. I don’t even ride the Harley on Rock Road anymore. That’s a war zone! Bohica, you say your insurance went up 31%? Mine almost doubled! I hadn’t had a wreck in almost 25 years before I moved to Wichita. I got hit twice the first year I was here. Once from behind by an 18 year-old girl talking on a cell phone, and again by a woman who ran a stop sign in a mini-van, talking on a cell phone while turned swatting at a bunch of kids in the back seat.Now it may just be a freak thing, but I’ve noticed that roughly 60% of the drivers I see driving like idiots have Butler County tags. One thing about driving in Wichita…you learn about DEFENSIVE DRIVING.
OMG Dagett!!!
I look for signs when driving. One of the signs is BU on their plates. I see that… and I try to get around them and away from them!!
Bohica….
The reason that they didn’t have a problem with school funding was because they taught reading from a book instead of a computer screen. Yes, technology is good and is necessary, but there is no reason for every classroom to be filled with them. There is a reason that kids want to write papers in webspeak…that’s all they know!
That’s off topic, but with the idea of using the increase revenues for schools….if they raise the prices it should be to make the turnpike free like it was supposed to be after it was “paid for” in the first place!
Bohica, I’m with you on that. I watch for BU tags, and if I see one, I stay the heck away! They’re the ones who drive 25 when traffic is moving at 45, and they don’t know what a turn signal is. I’m not familiar with Butler county…do they allow right turns from the inside lane there?
You guys really think Wichita is that bad? My goodness, you haven’t been around much. Wichita is really tame compared to Dallas, Houston, New York, Denver, even Oklahoma City. Just take your pick.
Kansas City is tame, because nobody lives or works there anymore. Everybody lives and works in the suburbs.
I’m sorry people. I don’t think Wichita is bad at all. I drive everywhere all the time and I rarely come across a rude and uncourteous driver. Granted there might be some bad civil engineering and construction traffic that can make it a bit rough, but overall, Wichita drivers are great.
It’s typical mindset though. People like to think their city is the worst, because they have such negative thoughts.
Joe,I’ve driven in Dallas. Have you ever been on LBJ? One thing I’ve noticed there is, tire tracks 20-30 feet up concrete embankments. Man, they must have some incredible wrecks there.Joe, have you driven in Wichita all your life? I come from a smaller town and compared to that, Wichita drivers were pretty scary.
I’m not from Wichita. I’m from Overland Park. But when I moved here, my insurance went up 31%. I have lived in Quantico, VA. Los Angeles (that’s a headache…). Okinawa, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea. I will say that Seoul does have worse drivers than any of those places. They will turn a 4 lane road into 8 lanes!!
I have to relay a story from September, 2000. My friend from KC came to visit. I was telling him about the drivers. I don’t think he believed me. We were at BEst Buy at 21st & Rock (right after they opened). We were walking out to the car, when we looked over towards 21st street. There’s this huge brick structure that has the signs on it. And this woman T-boned the brick stucture. Put a big old V in her car.She sat there for a few minutes, backed up, and drove over to the pizza hut. Went in and ate.
Why do drivers in Wichita think getting just the front driver tire into the turn lane is the same as actually pulling out of traffic and into the turn lane?
Here is the insurance list of the worst and best drivers.
http://www.allstate.com/media/newsheadlines/pr_2005/2005_06_07_best_drivers_report.pdf
Looks like Wichita is up on the top of the best drivers.
Well Joe, I checked your link and you’re right. I guess it is just a matter of preception. I might as well relax….But I’ll tell you one thing, Joe. If I get killed in Wichita traffic, I’LL NEVER SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN1111
LOL
The charge of $35.00 seems a bit high to me. When I moved from Kansas to Arizona, I paid $14.00 for my drivers license, as I also paid the same amount for my wife. Not bad, considering that they don’t expire for quite some time, until we reach 65 years of age.
When we bought a house, all I had to do, was go online, and change the address for both of them, cost, $4.00 each. I can renew my tags online, with the cost of the tag, and taxes for the vehicles every two years.
The only thing I have to do, is have the vehicles emission checked every two years. I just arrive at the station 1/2 hour before they open, go right through, and then on my way. So, I guess you can say we are lucky not to have to deal with long lines.
I might add, when a person goes to the grocery store, there is no state sales tax, only city, and county which amounts to 2.1 percent where we live. Lots of other little perks living here in the valley of the sun!!!
Arizona, I got charged $34 something (Might as well be $35)for a drivers license, $14 for car, around $18 for motorcycle, and tax. It seemed quite a bit high to me.
My license also includes motorcycles. I might add, that when I changed the address, a new license was mailed to my wife, and myself.
Well Arizona, looks like you got a good deal. Did you know the law and pricing just changed? So what’s your point?
Point is, maybe the state of Kansas needs to look at what other states do. But then again, Arizona has at least twice the population that of Kansas.
Just one of many reasons why I moved from Kansas to Arizona.
I’ve heard it’s pretty nice out there, but isn’t it pretty hot in the summer?You’re right, Kansas could stand to take a cue from other states.
I’ve driven in Dallas during rush hour, and I’d choose it any day to the same in Wichita. In Dallas, everyone goes the same speed. Okay, that speed is FAST, but there’s no pokey guy in front of you or speed demon behind you.
Didn’t you all know that the use of blinkers is illegal in KS?
Dagett, yes it is on the warm side in the summer, usually from May through Sept. The following article is from the Arizona Republic, located in Phoenix.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0721heatdeaths21.html
As for drivers in the Phoenix area, well main concern here is red light runners. One has to be very careful at a intersection, never know when a lunatic will run a red light. I see this quite often, but there are intersections that have photo radar. You run a red light, you get your picture taken, sent to you along with a fine.
Most will use the signal lights. Besides the red light running, there are some that not only speed, but weave in, and out of traffic, doesn’t matter if it is a two lane or a three lane major street.
Best advice if driving here in the greater Phoenix area, you best know where you are going, cause if you don’t, you might just get ran over.