DMV

The DMV saw a continued increase in mutant vehicle applicants in 2010, and for the first time received more than 1,000 applications. While this was not unexpected, it did tax our current system of processing, specifically with keeping the numbers of mutant vehicles we invite to the playa to a manageable level. We may be looking to alter the system a bit in the next year or two to make it work better for everyone involved.

The DMV has had a strong volunteer pool for the last few years, but our team has been waning a bit, and we need to revisit our strength in recruiting and retention. We are also going to revamp our trainings, which have not had enough attention in the last few years.

Though we saw some improvements this year, and despite a pre-event public awareness campaign, we are still receiving complaints about Mutant Vehicles with large sound systems, particularly near art installations.  The DMV and the Rangers will be working together to continue to address this issue.

Since 2004, the DMV has been using a homemade, half-broken database system to intake and process Mutant Vehicle applications. This year, we are finally getting a completely new system. This should make registering and processing Mutant Vehicles much smoother.

On playa, we are hitting the limits of how many vehicles we can process under the current system. This is especially true when something happens such as a storm on Monday making Tuesday twice as busy. We are looking to revamp and streamline our on-playa processing, which should make it better for everyone involved.

Submitted by,
Wally Bomgaars