Everyone knows that renewing your drivers license is not always fun. Friendly Computers found out that a computer virus caused a big delay in Houston. Read more below…
The Texas Department of Public Safety is blaming a computer virus for a six-week delay in processing new and renewed driver’s licenses.
Agency spokeswoman Tela Mange says the Conficker virus, which struck the Department April 15, forced a delay in a planned upgrade to the driver’s license system. That upgrade, called the “Drivers License Re-engineering” project, was supposed to be completed in three days last month. Instead, Mange says it will not be finished until later this week.
For drivers, this means the typical 10 to 15 day waiting period to get a license is now four to six weeks. The Department’s temporary permits, which drivers receive when they apply for a renewal online or in person, will now last for 45 days.
As a temporary measure, Mange says the DPS has asked local law enforcement agencies to double-check expired licenses in traffic stops against a computer database, to see if a driver has applied for a new license but has not yet received it. DPS is also issuing temporary paper licenses that last for 45 days.
Customers outside one of Houston’s DPS offices say that employees told them it will take anywhere from two to eight weeks to receive a new license.
Phone lines at the Department’s Austin headquarters are jammed with people checking on the status of their licenses, Mange said. When 11 News tried to reach an operator Monday, the automated system repeatedly told callers to hang up and try back later, because no one was available. There was also no mention of the delay on the DPS website.
State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, says she is not surprised that DPS is having computer problems.
Kolkhorst’s bill to upgrade computer systems at DPS has passed the Texas House and is awaiting a vote in the state Senate.
“This is the pattern that we have been seeing with the department,” she said. “We need a major overhaul. We’re asking the system to do more than it is probably capable of doing.”
Mange says that the computer problems that caused the delay should be resolved by Friday. She says at that point, the bulk of the delay will be behind them and licenses should take about 20 days to reach drivers.
Source: http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou090518_jj_drivers-licenses-renewal-changes.16b2f560.html
