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DMV Reform

Why Was New York State DMV Live-Tweeting the New York Auto Show?

12:00 PM EDT on April 2, 2015

The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles was live-tweeting the New York International Auto Show yesterday.

Why would staffers at the government agency charged with regulating motor vehicles and their operators be assigned to tweet photos of the 2016 Chevy Malibu, or wait with press for the big Porsche reveal? We have a message in with the DMV to find out, but it's hard to imagine how this furthers the mission of administering laws to promote safety.

Sure, scoring passes to a glitzy media event beats sitting behind a desk all day. But this is like the NTSB tweeting Richard Branson's birthday party. While DMV apparently has the resources to dispatch people to the car show, it hasn't, say, enacted reforms recommended by crash victims to make streets and roads safe from reckless drivers.

Maybe Governor Muscle Car is filling in before he gets around to appointing a new DMV commissioner.

Brad Aaron
Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York'’s dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.

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