Solon Economou

Join Manso in the slammer; courtesy of RMV

Courtesy of your friendly Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, you are all cordially invited to join Cape Cod author Peter Manso in the slammer for not renewing your auto license or registration when it expires.

As you know by now, the state does not send out notices for gun license renewals, so it is easy to find yourself, an honest and faithful citizen of the People's Republic of Massachusetts, inadvertently in violation of the state's gun laws.  Famous author Peter Manso found himself in such a situation, and now he is facing a heap of trouble.

The fix for such a situation is simply for the state to send out license renewal notices, as does the RMV.  Oh, excuse me.  As did the RMV.

Now the RMV has joined the dumb and dumber club.

Effective immediately the Registry of Motor Vehicles will no longer be mailing out license renewal applications or reminders to renew your driver's license (http://www.mass.gov/rmv/ under "Alert").  It is so easy and inexpensive for them to continue doing this as everyone is in their computer system.

It is now the drivers responsibility to know when their license is expiring and renew it on there own.  This may be a surprise to all of you since there has been no public information sent out about these changes.   

Mailings Eliminated

The RMV will no longer mail out the following materials to customers:

• License renewal notices
• Mass ID renewal notices
• License reinstatement letters:
  Letter sent to a licensed customer when his/her license is reinstated, provided that the license is still active
  Letter sent to an unlicensed customer when his/her right to operate is reinstated
• Registration reinstatement letters:
  Letter sent to a person or corporation whose suspended registration has been reinstated
  Letter sent to a person or corporation whose revoked registration has been reinstated
• Vehicle Inspection reminder letters for vehicles that are overdue for inspection
• Inspector license renewal notices
• 7D license renewal notices
• Driver's Education Certificates
• Junior Operator Brochures for parents (still available in branches)
• Change of address labels (customers can create their own)

Pull out your license, take note of your expiration date and make sure you renew it.  This is just a heads up so that no one gets pulled over and has their car impounded because they didn't realize they hadn't renewed their license.

Registrar Rachel Kaprelian says this will save money and that "preserving customer service and keeping wait times down is my number one priority in implementing any changes at the RMV."

That is Orwellian speak to the max.   This is just adding many more problems to the already extant problems of the RMV.  I don't believe that thousands of people overrunning the registry when they've suddenly discovered their license and/or registration has expired will result in "preserving customer service and keeping wait times down,"  much less in saving any money.

And our police departments already have too much to do with home invaders and crackheads than to write up people for unknowingly having expired licenses or registrations and impounding their now illegal cars.

Registrar Kaprelian, please don't add to the already considerable problems of the good people of the People's Republic.  Reinstate the RMV notices immediately.