The fallout from the RMV bogus road test scandal keeps piling up like a freeway fender-bender.
The registry reports that out of the 1,074 road test do-overs, 64.5% failed.
As the Herald first reported in February, the RMV ordered 2,100 drivers to take a road test within 10 days or risk losing their license. It came after the RMV discovered “suspicious activity regarding the issuance of road tests in 2020.”
Four RMV workers were fired and the case is ongoing — or at least that’s what the RMV has told the Herald in denying a public records request seeking the identities of the accused.
Here’s what we do know today, according to the state Registry of Motor Vehicles, out of the 2,100 road tests nullified:
- 1,074 were retaken.
- 381 passed.
- 693 failed.
- 60 “voluntarily chose to surrender their driver’s license in exchange for a learner’s permit”
- 75 “required to take a motorcycle road test” opted out with many “waiting for better weather and road conditions” before trying anew.
- 838 never responded to the RMV order.
This all went down from Feb. 14-25, under the tight window offered up by the RMV.
As of the first week of April, the registry says 93 “customers have passed a Class D road test to operate a motor vehicle, and 1 driver has taken and passed the Class M road test to operate a motorcycle.”
So, the original 2,100 given the news their road tests were bogus slowly return to try anew.
The registry also announced that beginning on May 2, learner’s permit holders applying for a Massachusetts-issued driver’s license “will be required to supply their own vehicle for road testing.” The RMV explained that the fleet of state-owned vehicles for road tests “which were cleaned and sanitized on a regular basis,” will no longer be used.
As for the scam, the four registry workers at the Brockton Customer Service Center who were fired are not being identified. They reportedly gave drivers passing grades without ever hitting the road. It was also reported that another RMV employee in the Brockton branch was issuing fraudulent vehicle titles.
State Sen. Diana DiZoglio, a candidate for state auditor, has called for a Senate oversight hearing on the RMV mess.
MassDOT, which oversees the embattled registry, has told the Herald it is withholding any identification of those tossed because it is a personnel issue and disclosure could “prejudice the possibility of effective law enforcement.”
Were you stuck in this mess? Do you have a gripe about the RMV? Email kvetch@bostonherald.com to share your story.
