A Tale About a Driver's License

Moe got his driver's license today.

Let me tell you about my friend Moe. Last year Moe was ecstatic when he won a lottery in his small African homeland and received a coveted visa to emigrate to the United States. He is a well educated man who had been employed as a social worker. He had heard about how good life was in America and was excited about being allowed to move here. He was full of dreams. He arrived in America four months ago and moved into a home with several other newly arrived immigrant families. He immediately began to search for a job. This was not as easy as he had anticipated. He speaks very good English, but his accent is noticeable. He almost got a job as a bellman in a downtown hotel, but was told he would have to get a driver's license first. The job might require some driving. He is thirty-five years old and has been driving for many years. He expected it would be something easily accomplished. He had no idea the hassle an American MVA can cause a man.

Moe does not own a car. You cannot take a driver's test without a car. A friend told him to call FISH, which is an organization for which I volunteer. We provide transportation for people who need it. Most of the rides are for older folk who need to see the doctor. When Moe called with his request a volunteer was found to take him to the MVA. He took his green card and his African driver's license. That was not enough paper work. He needed to provide all sorts of papers to prove he was a legal resident. He went home and gathered all his papers together and another volunteer took him to MVA again. The papers were in order, but now he would have to do a drug test. I don't know why this was required since none of the questionable looking teenagers in the room were required to provide a drug test. Another volunteer was needed to take him to another town, the only place that does drug screens for the MVA. He passed the drug test and returned again to the MVA. This time he was told that he would have to have a complete physical to certify that he was physically able to drive. The man has no job and no health insurance so this was a problem. Finally a local charity provided the funds for the medical exam. He passed that and returned to the MVA. He was allowed to take the written exam and received a perfect score. He was told he would then have to schedule a road test. He scheduled the test and a volunteer let him use his car for the exam. When the examiner got in the car he asked Moe to demonstrate that the lights and turn indicators worked. He did that. Then the examiner asked him to turn on the heater. Moe did not know how to turn on the heater. It was 95 degrees and no one had thought to show him the heater. He was not allowed to take the road test if he did not how to turn on the heater. He rescheduled the test. This is when I first met Moe. I went with him to an empty parking lot where he quizzed me about the heater and air-conditioner. He wanted to make sure he knew how to work every knob and dial on my dashboard. He practiced parallel parking and three point turns. The man is an excellent parallel parker.

It was obvious that he was nervous when got in line for the road test. He parked beautifully, but then, at the stop sign he stopped with the front tires on the white line, and that automatically disqualified him. He was greatly disappointed. He rescheduled and once again I took him to practice parking and then to the MVA for another road test. This time he was calm and confident. As he was demonstrating parking my car started making a loud rattling noise. The examiner said the car sounded unsafe and stopped the test. Once again Moe rescheduled his test. My car never made the noise again, but I did take it to the shop and they tightened up some things that might have caused it.

Today we once again practiced parking and then went to the MVA with all our paper work. His papers were in order but the computer did not show that he had scheduled an appointment. We went to the scheduling office to check on their error, but we were told that there was no appointment in the computer. He would have to reschedule. No amount of arguing helped. I asked if she could schedule the next appointment while we were there so we could be confident that it was indeed in their computer. She agreed to do that. As she was entering his information she stopped and asked him to repeat his phone number. She looked up and said that using his phone number the computer shows he had an appointment today after all. Someone had made a typographical error. We had to go stand in line again , but this time we were cleared to once again take the road test. There were no more problems. He drove back into the MVA lot with a smile as big as his American dreams. He had passed. The two hours we waited for the license itself were easy waiting. The nine trips to the MVA with all their hassles were gone. Moe just grinned with happiness. He called his wife and friends with joy overflowing.

On the way home today he said that today was his best day since coming to America. He loves his new country.