NAME OF SYSTEM: National Driver Register ORIGINATOR: Federal Highway Administration Department of Transportation, Washington, D.C. 20590

Submissions from the States consist of three types of inputs and one search and retrieval process. The inputs are withdrawals (and denials) of drivers licenses, recisions of withdrawals, and restorations of drivers licenses. The search processing performed for the States is called "Report of Withdrawal Searched" and is a report of a driver license revocation discovered during the search of the Register's master tape file. The key State inputs to the system are name and place of birth. Other identifications include such personal characteristics as color of eyes, height, and age. The standard amount of information required creates a need for at least two punched cards, and when multiple names have been used by the applicant, as many as five cards are necessary. Although all States participate in the program and the Register has appropriate standard forms available for each type of transaction, the State submissions are typically received in a variety of formats, including paper tape, punched cards, and magnetic tape. Additionally, the content of State submissions varies to some degree. The conversion of this large volume of daily submissions to magnetic tape is performed by a local data searching organization. In the search process, the daily receipt of State requests for "license denials" are batched and run through a series of processes that convert the information to a magnetic tape machine-language medium. This tape is then programed and run against the master file for matching action. The computer search programs are highly sophisticated and flexible. For example, the system can automatically check for names that are spelled slightly differently and for numerous other alterations that applicants sometimes use to disguise their true identity. The list of verified matches of driver license revocations and denials are forwarded daily by air mail to each State. Approximately 75,000 inquiries are received each day concerning such license revocations or denials, and of this number about 15 percent result in name matches.

O B J E C T I V E . To establish and maintain an information storage and retrieval system that will facilitate central collection, flexibility in searching, and rapid dissemination of selective data on the Nation's motor vehicle drivers. BACKGROUND. The National Driver Register was established by the Congress in 1961 to provide Federal assistance in driver licensing while maintaining State autonomy as to the extent of participation. The Register provides for a central driver-records identification containing the names of drivers whose licenses have been revoked or suspended for a number of causes. State participation in the system is voluntary. The Register operates purely as a service agency with the States retaining full administrative authority over driver licensing. Only authorized State and Federal officials can obtain information from the Register. Before the Register's establishment there was no practical way for the State administrators to obtain records of driver license applicants whose licenses had been revoked or suspended by other States. A few States had reciprocal driver record exchange agreements, but this arrangement left much to be desired. Under this new system each State is given a basic procedural guide covering all aspects of the system, including state responsibilities for making the Register effective and the benefits to be derived from participation. T H E N E W M E T H O D . In brief, the new system can best be decribed as an authentic "information loop," as each State contributes to the Register and also receives important information from the system's growing data bank. 128

R E M A R K S . The computer's capability to conduct programed coordinate searches of the master file for specific information is a natural for the scope and nature of this National Driver Register system. Additionally, the

master file may be expanded or purged with only routine effort. The continuing problem in this operation has been the difficulty in obtaining standard input format submissions from the States.

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NATIONAL DRIVER REGISTER
I N P U T PROCESSING

STORAGE

SEARCH A N D RETRIEVAL

R e p o r t of Denial

Search Request Form

Punched Card

I P a p e r Tape I

Punched Card

/

36

Printout

°

\
/ Refined Report

\ Computer

1. R e p o r t s of l i c e n s e d e n i a l s and a s s o c i a t e d r e p o r t s r e c e i v e d by m a i l e a c h day at National D r i v e r Register. 2. S u b m i s s i o n s a r e f o r w a r d e d in a v a r i e t y of f o r m a t s . 3. D a t a s e r v i c e c o n t r a c t o r c o n v e r t s t h e v a r i e t y of s u b m i s s i o n s to m a g n e t i c t a p e c o m p a t i b l e with in-house computer program. 4 . C o m p u t e r S e r v i c e s Division m e r g e s daily inputs into m a s t e r tape file.

National D r i v e r R e g i s t e r is s e r viced by IBM 3 6 0 / 6 5 c o m p u t e r . M a s t e r file is m a i n t a i n e d on magnetic tape.

1. S e a r c h r e q u e s t s a r e in the s a m e f o r m a t s a s input r e p o r t s and a r e p r o c e s s e d and c o n v e r t e d into m a g n e t i c t a p e for c o m p a t i b i l i t y with the s e a r c h p r o g r a m . 2. C o m p u t e r s e a r c h p r o g r a m produces printout, or, n e a r p r i n t o u t of m a t c h e d n a m e s . 3. to A to Printout is manually checked i n s u r e c o m p a t i b i l i t y of n a m e s . r e f i n e d r e p o r t is m a i l e d daily appropriate States.

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