DC Department of Motor Vehicles Agency Performance Oversight Hearing on Fiscal Years 2025-26

Government of the District of Columbia
Department of Motor Vehicles

Agency Performance Oversight Hearing on Fiscal Years 2025-26

Testimony of Gabriel Robinson, Director
Department of Motor Vehicles

Before the Committee on Transportation and the Environment
Charles Allen, Chairperson
Council of the District of Columbia

Thursday, February 12, 2026  

Good morning, Chairman Allen, Committee members, councilmembers, and staff of the Committee. I am Gabriel Robinson, Director of the District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and I am pleased to testify before you today. On behalf of Mayor Muriel Bowser, I would like to thank our customers, Chairman Allen, this Committee, and the DC Council for your support of DC DMV. The relationship you have with this agency and feedback you provide is valued and critically important for our  decision-making processes and service delivery. I would also like to extend a special thank you to all of my colleagues at DMV for their hard work, dedication, and commitment to serving our customers and saving lives every day. The mission of DC DMV is to promote the safe operation of motor vehicles and public safety, while providing outstanding customer service.

Annually, DC DMV serves approximately 650,000 licensed drivers and identification card holders in the District and over 270,000 registered vehicle owners. Each year, we process more than four million tickets. We liaise with District residents and non-residents, with an average of 3,200 daily customer interactions. In Fiscal Year 2025 we met the needs of 101,659 customers in person at our four service center locations and issued 150,207 driver licenses and 25,323 identification cards. DC DMV also issued 58,394 vehicle registrations. In addition, the agency processed and mailed products generated from 199,915 online transactions. DC DMV also received over 449,796 requests for ticket adjudication in FY2025. We conducted 361,110 in-person, online, mail and virtual hearings. We inspected 136,087 vehicles, including approximately 17,816 inspections conducted at our self-service OBD emissions kiosk at the Takoma Recreation Center and 2,092 at the Fort Stanton kiosk. In Fiscal Year 2025, DMV launched several new, innovative products and initiatives to better serve our customers, promote the safe operation of motor vehicles and public safety, and streamline our internal processes.

In Fiscal Year 2025, DC DMV sought to increase transparency and communication by making it a priority to keep District residents informed of tickets they receive with the establishment of a Ticket Alert Service (TAS) public awareness campaign. We promoted the benefits of TAS, such as providing real-time updates conveniently sent to a user’s email or text message. With this innovative service District residents are able to receive alerts when a new ticket is issued to their registered vehicle tags, before late penalties are applied to a ticket, and before a vehicle becomes boot eligible, in addition to receiving alerts for scheduled hearings or decision outcomes, among other helpful notifications. At the beginning of FY25, TAS enrollment stood at 116,500 accounts. To increase enrollment in TAS, DC DMV set a projected growth target of 10% and deployed targeted communications on social media and in-person at our adjudication office. By the end of May 2025, TAS enrollment had reached 128,271, surpassing our target 10% goal of 128,150 accounts. As of September 2025, total TAS enrollment further increased to 135,211 accounts, reflecting continued growth and interest in this helpful service.

In FY2025, DC DMV also expanded its Knowledge Test Bootcamp initiative, after the success of the initial bootcamp in the summer of 2024. This initiative sought to re-introduce driver education to DC Public Schools (DCPS), increase the number of young District residents who take and pass the DMV Knowledge Test, raise awareness of the requirements for becoming a licensed driver in DC, and increase Ward 7 and Ward 8 student access to DMV resources. DMV held the camp at Roosevelt High School in April 2025, offering the class to 16 high school students who were ready to begin their driving journey. The interactive course, led by DMV trainers, involved a presentation of terms, signs and signals, demonstrative and group activities that explored methods of driving and best practices. However, the Roosevelt High School boot camp effort was unexpectedly cut short due to the Mayor’s Order 2025-053, which took effect in April of 2025 and led to significant cuts in agency spending, hiring and overtime pay. DMV then partnered with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to offer the boot camp to its cadets.

In July 2025, DC DMV enacted a public education campaign to socialize the Strengthening Traffic Enforcement, Education, and Responsibility (STEER) Act, which was previously enacted on April 20, 2024. One of the provisions of the STEER Act mandates improved information sharing between MPD, DC Department of Public Works (DPW), District Department of Transportation (DDOT), and DC DMV to prevent tickets from being issued to vehicles reported stolen at the time of a traffic violation. Enacting the Stolen Vehicle provision of the STEER Act has already provided significant benefits to DMV customers. Customers who received parking tickets on their stolen vehicles and reported the theft to MPD had their tickets dismissed automatically without the need to contest them, with formal notices of dismissal sent directly to them. Additionally, customers who visit DMV’s Adjudication Services in person to contest tickets issued prior to the implementation of the automatic dismissal or whose vehicle or tags were stolen in another jurisdiction are assisted promptly by the Examiner of the Day. Since the launch of the program in July, 2,889 tickets have been dismissed, and 1,972 events were automatically rejected (representing camera violations identified by the system and filtered out before being issued as tickets). In total, 4,861 violations have been dismissed through the program.

Supporting our vision of being leaders in innovation and technology, DMV continues to make improvements and additions to the agency’s mobile app. The DC DMV mobile app is the most convenient way for customers to engage with DMV services. It provides an easy, free, and accessible platform for popular DMV transactions such as ID renewal, ticket payments and address change requests, while reducing the need for customers to visit DMV service centers - positively impacting overall wait times. We have seen increased year-over-year usage of the app, with over 278,000 unique downloads to date. In FY2025 the app saw an average of 3,775 monthly users. Customers completed 65,115 transactions from their smart devices in FY25, representing an increase of over 50% from FY24.

This fiscal year DC DMV will continue to make its mobile app the most convenient way for District residents to engage with us by integrating more services. Currently, there are over 20 transactions that can be performed via the mobile app. The agency plans to add its Ticket Alert Service to the app, along with video tutorials for customers to learn about common transactions. DMV also plans to expand its app capabilities to include personalization, with the introduction of “My DC DMV,” a tailored enhancement enabling users to create a user profile and keep track of their transactions. In addition to interacting with District residents through the app, DMV has been proactive in announcing operational updates through multiple communications channels, including press releases, the DMV website, and through direct channels such as mail, email, and our electronic newsletter that is distributed to nearly 500,000 subscribers. Most notably, DC DMV has grown exponentially across all of its social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube and LinkedIn), with this year boasting an average of 26% growth across all platforms.

In addition to social media communications, this year DC DMV elevated our public outreach and education efforts with robust marketing and public communication campaigns for key DMV initiatives, such as the Ignition Interlock Device (IID) Program. The DMV’s IID Program outreach campaign is part of the DC government’s coordinated approach to traffic safety and education and emphasized how DC DMV is committed to preventing impaired driving incidents in the District. DC DMV’s IID Program outreach campaign was launched in September 2025 with the deployment of outdoor ads across the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, (WMATA) Metro Bus and Rail cars. During FY2025 DMV also engaged with the public in person, through participation in community meetings, partnerships with other agencies and presentations at various public forums. DMV leadership attended and participated in ANC community meetings, where residents heard directly about important DMV updates and improvements to services. DC DMV was also proud to participate in 11 community outreach events this year, including several of the Mayor’s citywide events.

We also partnered with the DC Highway Safety Office (HSO), DDOT, MPD, and external partners State Farm, Safe Kids Worldwide and Children’s National Hospital to host a free Car Seat Safety Check event at the DMV Inspection Station. During the event on September 27, DMV conducted 45 inspections and installations, served 42 families and distributed 32 brand new car seats. The event aimed to raise awareness for DMV’s year-round car seat services. District residents are able to visit the DMV Inspection Station any time during normal operating hours and ask for a free car seat safety check. In Fiscal Year 2026, we are excited about opportunities to further DMV’s mission and vision. Our focus will largely be on reaching District residents with vital information using enhanced technology and communication.

To start the new fiscal year, DC DMV prepared to launch the Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA) Program in October. The ISA Program leverages advanced in-vehicle technology to help drivers stay within posted speed limits. Using a combination of GPS data and digital speed maps, the system alerts drivers and intervenes when they attempt to exceed the legal speed limit. Enrollment in the program ensures vehicles are equipped with this critical safety feature representing a major step forward in our commitment to public safety and Vision Zero. Due to changes in the fiscal year 2026 budget, implementation of the ISA program was delayed from the expected October 2025 start date. To address this issue, District Council passed a technical amendment on February 3, 2026 to allow DMV to finalize the regulations governing enrollment in the ISA program. We are excited to begin this process and officially launch the program.

Separately, in a continued effort to increase convenience for our customers, DMV has also expanded the available languages for the knowledge test to include nine new options as of December 15. In addition to the 15 languages currently available, District residents may now take the Knowledge Test in Turkish, Hungarian, Finnish, Danish, Indonesian, Dutch, Farsi, Italian and Swedish.

On February 1, 2026, DC DMV began offering customers an online disability placard renewal transaction making it easier for customers to be serviced, many of whom are disabled or elderly. By June we plan to develop a process to allow customers to opt into paperless notifications, thus reducing waste and decreasing our environmental footprint. We will also develop and implement the vehicle point system, develop a driving course, implement a tag manual or resource guide (all tags/ all jurisdictions), and implement the driver safety curriculum by September 30, 2026. Also, by September, DC DMV will add videos to the mobile app to show customers how to complete specific transactions, reducing customer error and frustration.

DMV remains committed to serving the public at a high level as demonstrated by the large volume of work the agency has produced to date. We remain focused on continuing to operate our facilities in a manner that keeps everyone safe, including our customers and our employees. I personally want to thank Team DMV for their dedication to exceptional customer service and public safety. Our commitment to these values will remain at the forefront of our work in Fiscal Year 2026. My team and I continue to look forward to improving our operational processes and making it easier for DMV customers to utilize our services. Again, we appreciate the support we have received from the Council and look forward to continuing our efforts to improve the quality of service to the residents of the District of Columbia. In closing, we would like to thank Mayor Bowser for her continued leadership and commitment to good governance and accountability. I will now address any questions you may have.