Driver's license tests return to Rock County

Local residents will be able to take their written and behind-the-wheel driving tests in Luverne starting Jan. 26.
The Department of Public Safety Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) weekly test site at the Rock County Highway Department in Luverne reopens this month after nearly two years of pandemic closure.
The state closed all 93 test sites in March 2020 amid staffing and safety concerns.
A few months later, it reopened 14 consolidated stations statewide. Marshall was the closest to Rock County, but scheduling backlogs sent many to Mankato, Willmar and farther.
Later in the year a few more sites opened, but 70 test sites, mostly in rural areas of the state, remained closed, forcing rural drivers to travel hundreds of miles to get licensed.
Cindy Arends handles driver’s education registration for families in the Luverne School District.
“That is good news,” she said about the local site reopening Jan. 26.
“As far as I know, students have been getting tests done, but this will make it so much more convenient for parents to stay in town rather than travel.”
 
Hundreds of drivers, hundreds of miles
A Star Herald story this summer detailed hundreds of miles traveled by hundreds of local drivers for license testing.
Between March 2020 and March 2021, Arends said more than 100 students were affected by the state’s test station closures.
Many of them traveled 70 miles to Marshall’s driving exam station or more than 90 miles to Fairmont’s station. Others drove 140 miles to Willmar when the wait was too long in Marshall and Fairmont.
And they made these trips twice — once for the written test and another for the driving test. They made return trips if students didn’t pass their tests.
If all the students licensed last year went to Marshall, the closest option during that time, they made the 140-mile round trip twice (once for the written test and once for behind the wheel), totaling 280 miles.
In many cases, the accompanying adults took a day off work, and student drivers missed a day of school.
 
Efficiencies for whom?
Before the pandemic, exam stations were in each county operating at least one day per week (by statute). It meant students missed only an hour of school to take the test and then return to class.
After March 2021, the Worthington exam station reopened, but the state delayed reopening all locations, citing efficiencies gained from consolidations and centrally locating staff.
Rock County Administrator Kyle Oldre, however, pressed the state to reopen all locations, pointing out efficiencies for state employees created inefficiencies for people forced to travel for the service.
“Do they think it’s more efficient for 100 people to drive east, in our case, rather than two people to drive here?” he said last summer. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Luverne driver’s ed instructor Brian Snyders said Worthington is still an hour round trip for local drivers in an unfamiliar town.
“They have four-way stops and roundabouts that we don’t have here,” he said last summer.
Student drivers are only part of the driving population affected by the test station closures. Commercial drivers testing for their CDLs also had to travel for testing, missing more hours of work during the extra time away.
 
Appointments can now be made for Luverne test
When testing resumes in Luverne Jan. 26, hours will be Wednesdays from 8:45 a.m. to noon and from 12:30 to 3:45 p.m. for Class D skills (the most common driver’s license) and commercial skills.
Knowledge tests will be from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Customers can make appointments within two weeks of the exam station opening by calling 651-284-1234.
A complete list of locations and services can be found online at drive.mn.gov.