Department of Motor Vehicles

18 Stories

Her Trekkie License Plate Caused Years of Problems

NY retiree Beda Koorey hopes her nightmare over copied license plate is finally over

(Newser) - Beda Koorey has racked up hundreds of alleged traffic violations in the US and Canada since 2020, despite not having driven anywhere in more than four years. The New York resident wasn't just accused of speeding. Authorities also claimed her vehicle was used in robberies, including one international case,...

California DMV Taking Some Heat Over a License Plate

'LOLOCT7' is seen as perceived mockery of Hamas attack; owner's family says it's unrelated

(Newser) - The California Department of Motor Vehicles has apologized for an "unacceptable and disturbing" personalized truck license plate that the agency said displayed hate speech related to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. But as the AP reports, a relative of the vehicle's owner said the whole controversy was...

ACLU Sues South Dakota Over Vanity Plate Restrictions

Civil rights group has beef with state's initial rejection of man's application for 'REZWEED' plate

(Newser) - The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota announced Monday that it's suing South Dakota over a state law that restricts content on vanity plates. The ACLU said in a press release that it filed the lawsuit on behalf of Lyndon Hart, whose application for a plate that said...

California Suspends Cruise's Driverless Taxis

Robotaxis have become increasingly controversial in the state

(Newser) - After a series of incidents involving Cruise robotaxis, California has decided to halt their operation in the state effective immediately. Cruise is one of two companies (the other is Waymo, owned by Google's parent company) with driverless taxi fleets in California; the suspension order issued by the state's...

Lawsuit Over 'FCANCER' Vanity Plate to Go Forward
DMV Revoked Her Vanity
Plate. She's Fighting Back
in case you missed it
Aug 7, 2022 4:25 PM CDT

DMV Revoked Her Vanity Plate. She's Fighting Back

Federal judge rules that Kari Lynn Overington's suit on 'FCANCER' plate may proceed

(Newser) - Kari Lynn Overington was in a celebratory mood when she hit the milestone of being cancer-free for two years, so she treated herself to a new car and a vanity plate that said "FCANCER," a defiant message to the breast cancer she'd beat. The DMV issued the...

Guy Wins Fight to Get 'Come On You Whites' License Plate

Department of Motor Vehicles admits soccer team slogan isn't racist in settlement

(Newser) - A California soccer fan has won in his attempt to honor his favorite soccer team with the vanity plate "COYW"—an acronym for the slogan "Come On You Whites." The state DMV initially said the tagline has offensive connotations, but on Tuesday said it would give...

Woman Fell When Ordered by DMV to Walk Without Cane: Lawsuit

Applicant broke her wrist, and now the state faces a civil rights lawsuit

(Newser) - Mary Wobschall, 78, had her eyesight tested before going to renew her driver's license. Her vision was fine, so she wouldn't need corrective lenses to drive. Then she and her husband went to a Wisconsin DMV office, where an examiner told her to walk across the lobby without...

DMV Wants Mom to Turn In Her 'PB4WEGO' License Plate

NH mom says vanity plate she's had for 15 years is funny, not offensive

(Newser) - A mother in New Hampshire is battling to keep her vanity license plate referencing an "excretory function"—though she says there's nothing offensive about "PB4WEGO." "I'm not the type to sit here with a picket, but come on," Wendy Auger of Gonic...

Truck Driver in Biker Crash Could Get Deported

Mass. license for Volodymyr Zhukovskyy ought to have been suspended after drunk driving arrest

(Newser) - The 23-year-old truck driver charged with killing seven bikers in a horrific crash in New Hampshire shouldn't have been on the road. Ukrainian national and permanent resident Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, who police say plowed into the bikers with his Dodge 2500 pickup towing a flatbed trailer, was arrested for drunken...

Man Butts Heads With DMV, Gets the Last Laugh

Nick Stafford dropped off 1,548 pounds of pennies on Wednesday

(Newser) - "If they were going to inconvenience me then I was going to inconvenience them," says Nick Stafford of employees at his local DMV, which received 298,745 unrolled pennies weighing 1,548 pounds on Wednesday. Stafford's payment came after months of butting heads with DMV workers. The...

Guy's License Suspended... Over 1981 Ticket
Guy's License Suspended... Over 1981 Ticket
in case you missed it
Aug 23, 2014 6:56 AM CDT

Guy's License Suspended... Over 1981 Ticket

Typo is to blame for Kevin Berry's ordeal

(Newser) - When Kevin Berry was pulled over in Portland recently, he thought he was about to get a speeding ticket. But the officer told him his license had been suspended a few weeks earlier—over a ticket dating back 33 years. "I think it's crazy," Berry tells KATU...

Humorless DMV Revokes Awesome Vanity Plate
Humorless DMV Revokes Awesome Vanity Plate
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jan 8, 2011 2:12 PM CST

Humorless DMV Revokes Awesome Vanity Plate

But joke was actually about cannibalism, owner insists

(Newser) - For years, some guy drove around Virginia with a vanity plate reading “EATTHE.” Not very notable, unless you realize that it appeared on a plate reading “Kids First” at the bottom. Now, Virginia has stripped him of the plate … because it's reading oral sex on children...

DMV Clerk Writes Letter to 'Evil' Transgender Customer

He used database to track her down after processing name change: Lawyer

(Newser) - A transgender woman is suing the California DMV after an employee took it upon himself to write her a personal letter telling her she'd go to hell for her "very evil decision," the AP reports. Though the clerk processed Amber Yust's name change from David, he allegedly used...

New York DMV Sending Callers to Sex Line

Mixup involves old phone number

(Newser) - Today's lesson in bureaucracy: The New York state DMV recently stopped using 1-800-DIAL-DMV as a toll-free number. It did not, however, do a bang-up job getting the word out, and the number is still showing up on brochures and websites. Which would be OK if the number didn't now belong...

Nation's Capitol Now Known as 'the DMV'
 Nation's Capitol Now 
 Known as 'the DMV' 


DC GETS A NICKNAME
Jul 30, 2010 10:07 AM CDT

Nation's Capitol Now Known as 'the DMV'

Washington nickname slowly catches on

(Newser) - After more than 200 years, the Washington, DC, area finally has a nickname a bit catchier than 'the nation's capitol." The DMV is no longer just the Department of Motor Vehicles, but also an increasingly known and used acronym for District / Maryland / Virginia. The nickname's origin is...

ILVTOFU Plate Too Spicy for Colo. DMV

(Newser) - A Colorado woman who wanted to advertise her vegan diet with an ILVTOFU vanity license plate is out of luck, the Denver Post reports. The state’s DMV maintains a list of banned letter combinations, of which FU is one. “We don’t allow ‘FU’ because some people...

Calif. DMV Sued for Suspending Licenses of Med Marijuana Users

Sober residents have right to drive: plaintiff

(Newser) - A medical marijuana advocacy group has sued California's Department of Motor Vehicles, demanding a written policy that treats doctor-approved pot like any other prescription drug, reports the Los Angeles Times. The DMV is accused of repeatedly suspending licenses, against state policy, from sober drivers caught with medical marijuana. "It...

Calif. Bill Would Drive Pets Off Laps

Drivers would have to steer clear of distracting pals

(Newser) - California legislators are pushing a bill banning pets from drivers' laps after a national study ranked pets, along with cell phones, among the leading causes of road distractions and a cause of thousands of accidents. A bill before the state legislature will impose a fine for driving while holding dogs,...

18 Stories