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DMV gains high visibility for department
at Western Idaho Fair

For the seventh consecutive year, ITD was part of a party for a quarter-million guests in Boise last month.

Division of Motor Vehicles employees staffed a booth at the Western Idaho Fair Aug. 17-26, providing public exposure to ITD services and programs.

“This has turned into an annual event that our staff looks forward to,” explains Barry Takeuchi, titles program supervisor for ITD. “They enjoy meeting the public, answering questions and solving problems.”

DMV provided staff for a booth from the fair’s opening bell, 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 17 through 9 p.m. on Aug. 26 – a total of 100 hours during 10-day run. Working in shifts, 32 employees provided information about DMV services and ITD programs. They volunteered from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily from Monday through Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the final day.

Driver Services and Vehicle Services generally had one employee each during the two daily shifts, with additional help from Commercial Vehicles.

Since 2005, ITD has shared the booth with the Federal Highway Administration and supported the agency’s seatbelt safety informational campaign.

The demonstration of traffic safety broke eggs faster than hens could lay them.

FHWA staff, with fill-in support from motor vehicles staff, loaded a toy “Barbie” car with two raw eggs -- one safely secured and one unrestrained, then sent the car hurtling into a fixed barrier. The secured egg survived; the other fell victim to the crash. The demonstration showed the effects of automobile occupants involved in a crash while not wearing seat belts.

Approximately 60 dozen eggs were sacrificed to drive the safety message home.

ITD Director Pam Lowe suggested the cooperative effort three years ago when she was DMV administrator. The federal agency and ITD have been partners every year since then.

“They have an interstate highway display, their Barbie seat belt crash demo and some highway safety brochures and promotional items,” Takeuchi explains, “and we have a license plate display, driver license and DMV Web page poster displays, and an organ donor electronic reader board.”

ITD also distributes highway maps, scenic highway brochures, 511 Traveler Service information and vehicle and driver brochures.

During the 10-day fair, 4,348 individuals stopped by the DMV/FHWA booth, a 10 percent increase from the previous year.

Twenty of the people who visited the booth completed change of address forms and deposited them in a box. Many others took forms and envelopes with them to be completed and returned later.

Questions from the public that could not be addressed by booth attendants were directed to appropriate ITD staff at Headquarters via cell phone.

Because of the on-going success of the booth, in terms of public exposure and service, DMV strongly recommended a return appearance in 2008.

By the numbers:
250,000	– estimated fair attendance
4,348	– number of people who visited the booth
5,500	– Idaho highway maps distributed
2,000	– Scenic highway brochures distributed
720	– approximate number of eggs broken in the seat belt demonstration
32	– volunteers from DMV staffed the booth
20	– the number of change-of-address cards received