Florida’s newest drivers still need to take behind-the-wheel tests to get licenses, but they should expect some changes in the way tests are conducted, at least while the coronavirus is still around. In a memo this month, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said that as state offices reopen to the public in counties such as Miami-Dade and Broward, road tests will be conducted with examiners outside of the vehicles. Examiners will use devices such as a walkie-talkies or cell phones to dictate instructions to drivers, who will do road tests in a “closed course at the office,” Aaron Keller, an agency spokesman, told The News Service of Florida. Drivers will need to be accompanied by co-pilots who are licensed in the country and are 21 or older, the memo said. The passengers cannot help the drivers during the tests and cannot be driving school instructors. The department said the new procedures are designed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. State and local offices across Florida have been closed since March due to the pandemic, leaving thousands of teens and new drivers waiting to get their driver’s licenses. One county tax collector is not following the state’s procedures for remote testing, and scoffed at the idea that a road test could be conducted without an examiner in the car. In most of the state, driver’s license services are managed by county tax collectors. While the state has issued new road-testing procedures for its offices, tax collectors will be able to determine when to open and how to provide services, including driving tests, Keller said. Bay County Tax Collector Chuck Perdue, for example, is not following the state’s procedures for remote testing. He scoffed at the idea that a road […]
