We are constantly striving to make your life and the lives of others in the state better through transportation. But we don’t live in a bubble. Sometimes, it makes sense to look beyond Iowa to the best practices of other states and share our own experiences in order to do our best work to serve you. One of the ways our Motor Vehicle Division team connects with those who perform similar tasks in other jurisdictions is through the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.
Connecting and Learning
Melissa Gillett, director of the Motor Vehicle Division, explained, “AAMVA and organizations like it for other disciplines are a connection point for all the jurisdictions to compare policies and procedures. For AAMVA specifically, the majority of U.S. states and Canadian provinces are members, so it provides an opportunity for all of us to help each other.”
Gillett continued, “DMVs have seen a big shift in the recent past from just issuing driver’s licenses to being the agency in charge of protecting your identity. Being part of AAMVA helps us determine what our role should be and what strategies we need to be successful.”
For AAMVA and groups like it around the country, relationships are key. Taking the opportunity to discuss common issues with your peers, whether that is by serving on committees or leading initiatives, there are candid conversations that are beneficial and advice is given freely to help each other out.
“During the pandemic, those relationships were vital to understanding how others were handling the situation,” said Gillett. “It is the same with mobile IDs. We can talk openly about the challenges and successes and learn from each other about how technology has evolved. We help each other be successful and the more states get it right, the better the national and even international standards will be.”
Daniel Yeh, director of the Motor Vehicle Division’s Central Programs Bureau, agrees. He said, “While we look to AAMVA and other similar associations for new ideas and better ways to do things, we also look to them for what not to do. We don’t want to chase every idea. Being a part of an organization like AAMVA helps us avoid possible pitfalls and minimize our risks. The information sharing helps us prioritize ideas.”
Yeh added that AAMVA resources can also assist us in researching ideas. He said, “AAMVA has staff that can help alert us to federal issues that may impact us. They compile comments from others and collate that into a summary that helps federal legislators get a feel for the national feeling about a particular subject.”
Leading the Midwest
In addition to the learning opportunities that organizations like AAMVA provide, they are also an avenue for us to provide leadership and expertise to others. Gillett said, “Having individuals on committees and in leadership positions strengthens the connections that we have with other states and provinces. As leaders, we can influence the priorities of the nation.”
Gillett, who leads AAMVA’s Region 3 covering the Midwest, says our goal as the Iowa DOT is to provide leadership in customer service and be a role model for government services in general. “Leading in this area not only provides us a platform to show others our best practices, but we can learn new ideas and what other Midwest states are doing that we might want to model our programs after. We get some of the best ideas from our peers and as a leader in this area, I can guide these types of discussions.”
Leading in License Testing
Gillett isn’t the Iowa DOT’s only leader in AAMVA. Cyndi Delp, one of our driver’s license hearing officers, has recently been appointed to head the International Driver Examiner Certification Board within AAMVA. This board is in charge of the national guidelines for driver’s license exams, including commercial driver’s license testing.
Delp is now in a position to not only improve Iowa’s current driver testing by gaining valuable insights from other states, but she can also help shape testing in the future. She said, “On this board, we develop strong national guidelines for review and adoption by each state’s lawmakers. Having these national guidelines helps lawmakers have a level of confidence that the suggested changes and updates have been fully vetted and are accepted as best practices in our industry. These standards also help align the states so customers can expect similar testing moving from place to place. ”
Being the leader of this group also provides Iowa an opportunity to get a heads-up for things are that coming in the future. Delp said, “By participating and leading this group, we are in a great position to influence the roll-out of new testing ideas and methods. Recently we’ve been working on a CDL skills modernization that will be implemented in Iowa later this year and is coming to other states very soon.”
Delp continued, “I was able to participate in an exercise where an examiner from Missouri and I did side-by-side comparisons of the current CDL testing and the updated version. The results were very interesting and helped us refine the process.”
The CDL skill modernization is just one example of how these types of groups help states work together to resolve common issues and improve customer service.
Showcasing Iowa
Gillett’s leadership is also manifesting in another way. Iowa will get to show the rest of the Midwest regional representatives of AAMVA what our great state has to offer when we host the Region 3 meeting in November 2023. Gillett says, “This will be a great opportunity for our colleagues from around the Midwest to experience Iowa. As the host state, we’ll be in the driver’s seat to shape the conference materials and topics to be discussed. It is a unique experience for us to show how our organization functions.”