x
Breaking News
More () »

DMV officials say system fully operational again after two days of issues

WETHERSFIELD —  The Department of Motor Vehicles says that it will resume full operations on Thursday and that all issues with the computer systems have b...
dmv

WETHERSFIELD —  The Department of Motor Vehicles says that it will resume full operations on Thursday and that all issues with the computer systems have been fixed.

“We have stabilized the system and we have our troubleshooters ensuring we have an ongoing process to continue reviews of the system,” said DMV Commissioner Michael Bzdyra. “I want to thank our customers for their patience during this time.”

The DMV is giving an extension to anyone whose license or registration expired Tuesday or Wednesday until Thursday at midnight.

Tuesday night, the DMV issued an alert advising customers to delay trips to DMV offices until Thursday because of problems with the department’s computer systems.

The issues with the computer system also created voter registration issues for a brief period Tuesday night, according to Secretary of the State Denise Merrill’s office. The official from the office said that the computers at the DMV couldn’t process “identity verification,” which is used to ensure that a person registering to vote is legitimate and that their information corresponds to DMV records. It’s unclear if this voter registration issue was at all related to the DMV’s outages and computer problems the last few days.

The outages were resolved enough for business to continue by 2 p.m. Tuesday, but backups and sporadic outages remained throughout the day.

The intermittent computer issues did not affect AAA offices. Those with license or ID card renewals were asked to visit a AAA office. Locations can be found at ct.gov/dmv/offices.

“We know this is an inconvenience to our customers and we are working around the clock to resolve this matter. We also want customers who have expiring credentials to know that they will be given a grace period to get their renewals done,” said DMV Commissioner Michael Bzdyra.

“Anyone whose expiration date of a credential, whether license or registration, occurs today as DMV experiences this problem, will have their credentials’ validity extended until Thursday at midnight,” said a statement by spokesman William Seymour. “We advised to delay a visit to the DMV on Wednesday and look for updates on whether to visit an office on Thursday.”

Last week, the DMV announced they are dropping the private vendor 3M it had used to overhaul the agency’s computer system.

“We’re operating under the contract right now with 3M that is continuing to fix the bugs in the registration system,” said Michael Bzdyra, “But phase three of that contract, which would involve the licensing side of the aisle so to speak, both parties, both 3M and the DMV have mutually agreed to not do that together.”

In March, the state approved Gov. Malloy’s choice for DMV commissioner, despite the fact that he doesn’t hold a master’s degree as he previously claimed.

Before You Leave, Check This Out