Road test waivers ending at NC DMV, as COVID-era policy comes to an end
The end of the pandemic emergency in North Carolina means everyone seeking their first driver’s license in the state will again need to take a road test.
The Division of Motor Vehicles stopped offering road tests in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus among employees and drivers. It made exceptions for commercial driver’s licenses and medical evaluations.
A few months later, the DMV adopted a policy that waived the road test for most new drivers age 18 and older, if they could show they’d been properly trained and had a good driving record.
In October 2020, the DMV developed a road test for teens under 18 seeking a full provisional license. The test involved examiners setting up cones in large parking lots and watching the driver from outside the car.
But the waiver for most adults seeking their first regular Class C driver’s license remained in effect. In addition to new drivers, the policy applied to people moving from out of state whose previous license had been expired for more than a year.
The policy will end Sept. 14, the DMV announced this week.
The waiver was tied to Gov. Roy Cooper’s COVID-19 state of emergency, issued in March 2020 and extended several times. Cooper ended the state of emergency Aug. 15, citing provisions in the recent state budget that give health authorities more flexibility to respond to the pandemic.
Most other restrictions and mandates tied to the executive order were lifted in 2021, but the DMV road test waiver remained.
The additional road tests will further burden understaffed driver’s license offices. More than a third of the state’s 710 driver’s license examiner jobs are vacant, according to the DMV.
Come September, one holdover from the DMV’s response to COVID-19 will remain in effect.
The General Assembly shortened to six months the amount of time teens age 16 and 17 must hold a Level 1 learner’s permit before moving up to Level 2, a limited provisional license. Starting at the end of the year, that provision will expire and teens will again need to drive under a Level 1 permit for a full year before moving to the less restrictive Level 2.
All DMV offices will again be closed Saturdays
Another change ahead: Aug. 27 will be the last Saturday that some DMV offices will be open for walk-in customers.
The agency resumed Saturday morning hours at 16 driver’s license offices in May, in advance of what is typically its busiest season. DMV offices do more business in the summer, as teens and others seek licenses when school is not in session.
With school restarting and DMV staffing stretched thin, Saturday hours are ending soon.
Saturdays are reserved for certain express services, including driver’s license or ID card renewals, duplicate orders, address changes, REAL IDs and road tests for people who have already completed the knowledge and written tests.
The 16 offices include the ones on David Taylor Drive and West Arrowhead Road in Charlotte; South Roxboro Street in Durham; Spring Forest Road in Raleigh; Mt. Holly-Huntersville Road in Huntersville; and U.S. 74 in Monroe.
The DMV has 115 driver’s license offices open weekdays statewide. People are encouraged to make an appointment up to 90 days in advance, at www.ncdot.gov/dmv/, but walk-ins are welcome.
People can skip a trip to the DMV altogether by going online to renew or get duplicate licenses and IDs or apply for voter registration at www.ncdot.gov/dmv/offices-services/online/.
