home

W

hen you live in Pamlico County, you find yourself having to drive out of the county for some services. Hospitals. Cineplexes. DMV.

While many people do drive in to New Bern to get their drivers’ licenses, that is one service that actually comes to Pamlico County. Once a month, DMV sends an RV-sized mobile unit to a parking lot in Alliance for six hours. It’s a great convenience. You step up in to the RV, are greeted by an examiner at a counter behind the drivers seat, fill out a few forms, take a test and walk away with a license in far less time than a visit to the New Bern DMV would take.

The DMV on wheels

The license officers still wear uniforms and short ties. But generally, the atmosphere is a lot more casual. For years, the mobile unit that came to Pamlico County had a Pee Wee Herman doll tied to the camera. (This may have accounted for a higher percentage of smiles on drivers licenses issued through that unit.)

Pee Wee’s no longer part of the entourage, alas, but a recent trip to the mobile unit confirmed that, as DMV experiences go, it’s still relatively pleasant. A steady flow of people — but no lines — climbed up in to the RV and avoided the long trek and wait in New Bern.

Drivers License Examiner Vickie Keel and Pat Del Rio, who was getting his first NC Drivers License in January.

County manager Tim Buck says that the state tried last fall to trim the service to 4 hours once a month, down from 7-1/2 hours. After some outcry about the need for this service in a small county, the state compromised and now has the unit in place in Alliance for 6 hours — from 9a-3p — once a month.

Perhaps even more people in the county would take advantage of the service… if they knew the right day to come.

There is a sign on Highway 55, pointing to the Agricultural Cooperative Extension Service lot where the DMV mobile unit visits. The sign, put up by the NC DOT, says that the driver’s license services are offered at the site on the Third Wednesday of the month.

That was the case for a long time, but two years ago the schedule changed to the Fourth Thursday of the month. The sign, however, didn’t.

When you take your drivers license test, you’re asked what the red octagonal sign means, and the yellow circle and the bi-colored triangle… In Pamlico County this green sign means that you might want to call ahead and verify the day listed.

An employee at a nearby office fields queries from people who show up on those Third Wednesdays and has asked that the sign be changed. A DMV employee said they’d been trying to get the Department of Transportation to amend the sign for two years.

Meanwhile, Pamlico’s County Manager says that he’s been talking with DMV about moving the mobile unit site from Alliance to the grounds of the county courthouse in Bayboro where there’s more parking available. Tim Buck says that could be happening within the next few months.

Will the inaccurate sign change then? Buck says calls will be made to DOT.

Jackie Mahan, a recent arrival from Connecticut, and the sign that would have had her at the site 8 days before the actual DMV mobile unit arrived.

In the meantime, we have this Pamlico-specific dimension to the drivers license process. A little miles-to-kilometers style calculation is in order: “To get the accurate schedule, start with the day on the sign and add 8.”

A call to the Kinston DMV office (526-4432) confirmed that the DMV Mobile Unit will be at the Agricultural Center in Alliance on Thursday March 26 from 9a-3p.

Posted Thursday March 26, 2009 by Melinda Penkava

email this story | back to top