EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was written in response to a reader-submitted question through Open Source, a platform where readers can ask Ashland Source’s newsroom to investigate a question.
ASHLAND — Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles driver examination stations closed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic due to health concerns.
Some of these stations — including some of the closest stations to Ashland County — remain closed, but for a different reason.
The stations are unable to resume operations because of staffing shortages.
Businesses and organizations in Ashland County, and across the country, have faced persistent staffing challenges since the onset of the pandemic. More people voluntarily quit their jobs than ever before, and some sought out other career paths that offered higher pay, more flexible hours and other benefits.
The driver examination center that had once been in Ashland County closed before the pandemic in 2019, meaning Ashland residents have had to travel outside the county for driver examinations ever since.
The Ashland station was one of several stations the Ohio BMV ordered to close in the state that year because of underuse.
The closest driver examination stations to Ashland are in Wooster and Ontario. Only Ontario is currently offering road tests.
The Ontario station resumed road tests May 26, 2020, assistant director of communications for the Ohio Department of Public Safety, Lindsey Bohrer, wrote in an email to Ashland Source.
“The Wooster Driver Examination Station (DX) has been closed since Nov. 30, 2020 due to lack of staffing,” Bohrer wrote.
Other driver examination stations in Ohio that are closed because of staffing shortages include Ravenna, Medina, Marion and Springfield, Bohrer wrote.
Wooster has not offered the road portion of driver examinations since the onset of the pandemic — initially because of health concerns. But now the Wooster location cannot find employees, Wooster license bureau manager Bonnie Alfred said.
Alfred said she has no indication as to when the road test portion of the examination could potentially resume at the Wooster location.
After initial overall closures due to health concerns, the Ohio BMV allowed road testing to resume in late spring of 2020 — but with modifications.
Instead of examiners administering tests while sitting in the passenger seat of vehicles, instructors watched and graded drivers as they completed a course set up in parking lots. An adult with a driver license had to be inside the vehicle during the test, in lieu of the instructor.
The Ohio BMW allowed for centers to resume in-vehicle testing in June 2021, with a mask-wearing requirement for both drivers and examiners.
However, as the situation in Wooster indicates, not all have been able to because of factors beyond public health.
While the Ashland driver examination station is permanently closed, the deputy registrar agency offers written testing in Ashland. The Wooster Deputy Registrar offers written Class D and motorcycle testing, Bohrer wrote.
Bohrer also wrote that the BMV now handles driver test scheduling online.
“Once you schedule, you have an option to go back at any time to view cancellations that have become available,” Bohrer wrote.
The Ohio licensing bureau has also increasingly moved operations online, including giving Ohioans the ability to reprint lost licenses and check BMV wait times online.
