Department of Motor Vehicles back in business after outage

Wednesday, April 21, 2004 | 5:23 a.m.

Lines at the Department of Motor Vehicles were no longer than normal and the driver's license pictures were as unflattering as ever on Wednesday, one day after a computer problem shut down the system statewide.

"It's business as usual at this time. We don't have any problems and the offices don't seem any busier than usual," DMV spokesman Tom Jacobs said.

What Jacobs describes as a computer "hiccup" kept thousands of people from renewing their licenses and vehicle registrations from about midmorning Tuesday until midafternoon.

Anyone who could not renew a driver's license or vehicle registration because of the computer crash will not be charged a late fee, Jacobs said.

"We certainly regret the inconvenience that it caused the motorists," he said. "But if their license or registration expired yesterday, they better be in line today."

Sonya Wojciechowski drove her daughter, Kelly Brown, 17, to get her first identity card from the DMV in Reno on Tuesday. Kelly needed the card to work at a fast food restaurant.

They arrived at 10:30 a.m. Just as a DMV employee was about to enter the information into the computer, it shut down, Wojciechowski said.

"I had to burn gas coming down here twice, I don't like coming to town unless I have to," she said.

Jacobs was not able to say how many people were affected, but said on a typical day 7,000 people are served at the state's 21 offices.

In Las Vegas, Gloria Daley took her granddaughter, Lynne Parrella, 17, to a DMV branch to set an appointment for a driving test and was delighted by the nearly empty parking lot.

"I said, `Wow! Look at this! Nobody's here today!' I didn't think the computers were down," she said.