348-year-old gets drivers license in Md.

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration issued driver’s licenses to dead people and a “348-year-old person” and returned drunken drivers to normal driving status despite repeat violations of a car breathalyzer program, a new state audit shows.

The MVA’s performance on a range of issues, from properly checking proof of residency before issuing identification to enforcing car insurance requirements, was “unsatisfactory” between January 2004 and Nov. 30, 2006, according to an Office of Legislative Audits report released Monday.

The MVA’s driver’s license database as of February 2007 included about 280 driving records that contained Social Security numbers recorded on at least one other driving record.

The agency also was faulted for issuing driver’s licenses to 16 people though Social Security numbers showed them to be dead and for approving licenses and ID cards to 130 people between the ages of 102 and 348.

“It’s kinda hard to be that old, I would think,” legislative auditor Bruce Myers said. “The question in both these cases is whether this was an error or somebody putting down fictitious dates or any kind of impropriety.”

MVA spokesman Buel Young said the agency was making changes in its computer system to match death records with Social Security numbers and that the problems were likely human error resulting from an “incorrect reading of the number” rather than fraudulent actions.

Young said the MVA implemented 70 percent of the recommended procedural changes from the audit.

Another problem area was the MVA’s “Ignition Interlock Program,” which was established in 1996 to help prevent state residents convicted of alcohol-related offenses from driving while intoxicated.

More than 4,000 people are enrolled in the program, in which participants are required to have a device installed in their vehicles. To start the car, they must breathe into the device and have a blood-alcohol level lower than .025 percent.

If the driver passes the test, retests occur about every 30 minutes while the car is in motion.

According to the audit, the MVA did not revoke or suspend licenses of people who repeatedly failed breathalyzer tests; instead they received letters in the mail congratulating them for completing the program and returning them to normal driver status.

Myers said one person who was returned to normal driver status had never had the breathalyzer device installed.

Young said the agency already has improved its oversight of program participants.

“We have put in some more checks before a letter of completion can go out,” Young said. “It now will be reviewed by a supervisor, another set of eyes on it before it is ever sent out to make sure these letters aren’t going out to people who haven’t completed the program as required.”

Baltimore Examiner reporter Kelsey Volkmann contributed to this report.

kmiller@dcexaminer.com

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