Apparently I can't wait 5 years or even 1 year to renew things that I've already paid good money for. I guess the respective DMVs or DOTs or whatever they are have to make money somehow...
Then today Jeffrey mentioned that to get these new drivers licenses we have to take a written test - as if 20+ years of driving doesn't count for anything. Seriously, isn't the written test for new drivers? What, are their rules of the road so very different there? Do they drive on the other side of the road or something? I mean, written tests are fine for new drivers who have just taken Drivers Ed and studied all that stuff, but the rest of us have been out on the roads driving. Who remembers how many feet you're supposed to signal ahead of a turn? And even if I did know how many feet, I wouldn't really know what that means in real life - I just do it. I'm also one of the few people who seems to know that, on the highway, you're supposed to drive in the right lane and use the left lane for passing. And, this probably has nothing to do with a drivers license, but I'm also one of the few people that knows pedestrians are supposed to walk on the left side of the street, facing traffic. At least one of the few in this town - maybe they all know that over there.Unless, of course, they drive on the other side of the road there, in which case pedestrians should still walk facing traffic, but it would be on the right-hand side of the street.
Seriously, I doubt any of the rules in the new state are any different than in all the rest of the states, which kind of makes a written test a bit ridiculous for people who have been driving for years.
And then there's the fact that a valid current Wisconsin drivers license isn't good enough for ID. No, they want a birth certificate, and my social security card, and I don't know what all. Really? Let's just treat all the new people as if they don't know anything and as if they lied to get the license they currently hold. Yep, way to make me feel at home.
