Q. I am 75 and a year or two ago I renewed my driver’s license at the Norco Department of Motor Vehicles office. I studied hard for the written test and … none wrong. A miracle! Why? For weeks I took every online practice test I could find. I read and reread the DMV manual. There are thousands of questions related to safe driving that could be asked. So why was I (or ANYONE else) asked a question citing an obscure law with little to do with the safe operation of a motor vehicle? The question had to do with the disposal of a dog carcass in a rural area. No kidding. I guessed at the answer and somehow got it right. As soon as I got home, I went through the DMV manual to find out how I had missed this important road-safety law during my studies. After a lengthy search, I found the one sentence that mentions the disposal of an animal carcass. That question should NOT be on any DMV written test. Someone with clout needs to contact the DMV and petition to remove nonsensical questions such as this one from its tests.
– Glenn Alsdorf, Chino Hills
A. Honk is a little light on clout today, and he supposes the purpose of such in-the-weed questions, Glenn, is to get drivers to do what you did – dig deep into the Driver’s Handbook.
All of the answers are in there, said Andrew Finkel, a DMV spokesman, and the tests are “accurate in their assessment and fair to all (and help) confirm that drivers have the knowledge needed to safely operate a vehicle.”
The tests were last updated two years ago. The DMV analyzes questions to try and dump too-difficult ones, those that have been used too often and any that should be rewritten, Finkel said.
Q. Hi Honk: Wondering if you could tell us what is on the west side of the 241 Toll Road that, from a distance, looks like a couple of good-sized plots of land covered with orderly placed white crosses. Maybe a couple of miles north of the 133? We were traveling south and the two patches of markers were off to the right side of the road. There weren’t any exits nearby.
– Linda Scott, Placentia
A. A cemetery in a scenic hill overlooking a major highway – sounds like the perfect spot for Honk’s final resting place.
But, alas, that is not what is out there, Linda.
“What you are seeing on the hillsides are newly planted avocado trees, covered with white cloth to protect them from deer,” Peter Changala, vice president of agricultural operations at the Irvine Co., told Honk via email. “The protective bags remain for about 18 months.”
Turns out, the city of Irvine’s climate is nifty for avocados. The Irvine Co. has nearly 100,000 such trees, which were planted decades ago. The Irvine Ranch, in fact, is one of the United States’ top five producers of the tasty green things.
HONKIN’ FACT: The law that requires those 70 and older to renew their licenses in person at a Department of Motor Vehicles office was approved by the state Legislature in 1978. Most drivers must renew every five years. But younger motorists can do it via mail or online, except every third time when they, too, must brave an office (Sources: the DMV and the California Vehicle Code).
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk
Source: Orange County Register
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