LAWTON, Okla_The Department of Public Safety on East Gore in Lawton said they are working on fixing a major problem at their driver's license office, long wait times for customers. Several people have called and complained that they have to wait an average four hours before they are seen by driving instructors. But officials say it's not just here, it's all over the state.
Officials said Friday they are in the middle of training driver license examiners but it may be a while.
David Thurman said he and his wife drove from Hobart and got to Lawton at 8 Friday morning. Six hours later he was still waiting, with 30 people ahead of him.
"I'm tired, I'm hungry, I want to do something else besides sit here and wait all day."
Christopher Cassel also drove from Hobart he was way behind Thurman. He said he needs his license to get a job and won't budge until he does.
"Even if everybody leaves I'm going to get seen."
Trooper Betsy Randolph is the DPS Public Information Officer for the division. She said officials are aware of the situation at the Lawton site but they had no choice but to close the Altus DPS a year and a half ago and Duncan DPS last year because they were normally manned by one instructor.
"If we've got one drivers license examiner in the station and they leave to do a driving test, they can't just leave the building open for anybody. You know they can't just leave it unmanned."
She said workers who left would often inform officials they felt stressed on the job which could be why it has been difficult to find the adequate amount of staff.
"Because there's such a large mass of people that come in and a limited time to spend with them people get frustrated and they voice their frustration to the examiner who can absolutely not do anything about it."
Right now they're working on getting their numbers up but Randolph said the training process is more than just the driving test. It's also about knowing what is being handed to them.
"To verify those documents when they come in, because any of the documents, birth certificate, papers naturalization papers any of those kinds of things they have to verify that they are real and that they're valid. We don't want people just passing out driver's license on a whim."
Lawton's site currently has two examiners in training who will be heading to Altus within the next two months. However, there is still no word on if or when the Duncan site will open back up again.
Department of Public Safety officials said they are in the process of coming up with a contract to work with an Oklahoma group that will act as driving instructors for DPS. There should be more information released on Monday.
