Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute, Nationwide Children's Hospital, 575 Childrens Drive, Columbus, OH 43205, United States.
Department of Epidemiology, University of Iowa, 145 N. Riverside Dr, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States; Injury Prevention Research Center, University of Iowa, 145 N. Riverside Dr, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States.
Accid Anal Prev. 2021 Nov;162:106400. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2021.106400. Epub 2021 Sep 15.
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered people's daily lives, including driving. However, how state Divisions of Motor Vehicles (DMV) adapted their operation policies in response to COVID-19 remains unknown. This study analyzed adaptations to the content of state DMV operation policies during the COVID-19 pandemic across 50 US states and assessed the relationships between these policy adoptions and their state-level COVID-19 restriction orders.
We merged data on policy adaptations due to COVID-19 obtained from DMV websites for all 50 states with data on state-level restrictions obtained from the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP). We created a codebook and analyzed the DMV policy adaptations in the following three areas: (1) road testing, (2) licensure extension and renewals, and (3) facility reopening. Two trained coders independently reviewed and coded the adaptations of policy content related to precaution to spread of COVID-19 and ease of obtaining licensure. We calculated summary scores for policy adaptations and ease of licensure and compared these scores across three categories of state-level COVID-19 restrictions using ANOVA.
DMVs in all 50 states adapted their policies to slow the spread of COVID-19. The ease of licensure summary scores increased in some states but decreased in others. Extensions for licensure renewals was the most common change. Adoption of COVID-19 precautions during the road test was the most common road test adaptation, while road test waivers were the most controversial. Requiring appointments, social distancing, and/or face coverings/personal protective equipment [PPE] were common adaptations during facility reopening. However, variations in level of policy adaptations and ease of licensure were not associated with the state's COVID-19 restrictions.
Our findings provide insight into policy adaptations made by state DMVs to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and may inform future policy adaptations in DMVs and other government agencies during public health emergencies.
新冠疫情极大地改变了人们的日常生活，包括驾驶。然而，各州机动车辆管理局（DMV）如何针对新冠疫情调整其运营政策尚不清楚。本研究分析了全美 50 个州的 DMV 运营政策内容在新冠疫情期间的调整情况，并评估了这些政策调整与各州新冠疫情限制令之间的关系。
我们合并了来自全美 50 个州 DMV 网站的因新冠疫情而进行的政策调整数据，以及来自国家州立卫生政策学院（NASHP）的州级限制数据。我们创建了一个编码本，并分析了 DMV 在以下三个领域的政策调整：（1）路考，（2）许可延期和更新，以及（3）设施重新开放。两名受过培训的编码员独立审查并编码了与预防新冠病毒传播和方便获得许可相关的政策内容调整。我们计算了政策调整和许可便利性的综合得分，并使用 ANOVA 比较了这两个得分在三个州级新冠疫情限制类别中的差异。
全美 50 个州的 DMV 都对其政策进行了调整，以减缓新冠疫情的传播。在一些州，许可便利性的综合得分增加了，而在其他州则减少了。延长许可更新是最常见的变化。在路考中采取新冠疫情预防措施是最常见的路考调整，而路考豁免则是最具争议的。在设施重新开放期间，要求预约、保持社交距离和/或佩戴口罩/个人防护设备（PPE）是常见的调整。然而，政策调整的水平和许可便利性的差异与各州的新冠疫情限制无关。
我们的研究结果提供了各州 DMV 为减少新冠疫情传播而采取的政策调整的见解，并可能为 DMV 和其他政府机构在公共卫生紧急情况下的未来政策调整提供信息。
