Christy
DiCesare
One year I received my new license. I immediately
realized an error. My expiration date was listed
February 29, 1999. The DMV said there was no
reason to change it, it would just expire on the
28th.
However, multiple times it caused me trouble.
Many stores would swipe your license if you wrote
a check. Often times the computer would reject it
saying invalid. I would tell them to enter it
manually
using the 28th. This resulted in calling a manager
to approve because they were changing the date.
The first few times were funny, but then it got
annoying. Until I received my next renewal license
I made it a point of using cash. Thankfully the DMV
got the next one right.
#5040 Dan Morgan 1960
In about 1977 the state of Oregon changed their
issuance of drivers’ licenses. They went from a
two year renewal without a picture to a four year
renewal with a picture, and that expired on your
birthday. My current license expired in 1978, but
since it wasn’t a leap year, they couldn’t make
my new four year license renewable on my birthday.
I got an official letter from the state of Oregon:
“Dear Leap Year Person…” They explained that
due to their new policy, I would need to renew
my license in the old style, and at the old price,
for two more years, then when my birthday rolled
around in 1980, I would be able to get one of the
new licenses which would expire on my next
birthday, just like everyone else. So from 1978 to
1980 the only drivers in the state of Oregon without
state issued photo ID were Leap Day birthday
people.
I’m sorry I didn’t keep the letter. It was
cleverly
written in “legalese” with enough tongue-in-cheek
to make it fun. Clearly someone at the capitol
enjoyed drafting that letter.
Michael in Idaho, USA
I believe it was back in about 1993 when I had the
dis-
cussion with the drivers licensing office. I
remember
that I discussed with them that anyone else that
year
could come in on their birthday and renew their
license
and not have to take the drivers test accompanied by
an officer but if I came in on March 1, I would have
too.
I remember quite clearly saying that I recognized
that
February 29 didn't come on the calendar that year,
however since my birthday wasn't February 28 but the
day after February 28, I should be able to renew the
license on March 1 since it followed February 28. Of
course this didn't seem to amuse the lady in that
office
and I was told that if I waited until March 1 to
renew my
license I would have to take all the test as if I
had never
had a license before. So I renewed on the 28th with
my
license expiring on my real birthday in 2000,
however I
paid the same for my renewal as anyone but only got
7
years for my money while anyone not born on the 29th
got 8 years. So I will always have been shorted one
year on my drivers license. Since my current license
was issued 2-23-2000 and for 8 years, it is now time
to
renew. My present license has my correct date of
birth
of 2-29-1956 and actually has the expiration date
shown
as 2-29-2008 so as long as I renew it on or before
my
birthday and the state continues to issue licenses
for 8
years at a time, I shouldn't have to be concerned
with
the issue.
Rita, USA
My
driver’s license has my correct birthday – but has
an expiration date of 2/29/2010 and when I tried to
rent
a car the agent said that she couldn’t do it because
the expiration date wasn’t legitimate. So she put in
2/28/2010 and of course, it worked.
EN: Putting an invalid date on
government documents
must stop. This is not acceptable.
# 4366
Landen Nicolas of Alberta,
Canada
Our son Landen of Alberta, Canada came into the
world
at 9:41pm not only as a leap year baby, but as a
mil-
lennium baby. It was funny the nurse came into
the
room with a piece of paper and a pen and asked what
day we'd like on the certificate Feb 28th or
March 1st?
I was pretty confused thinking we get to
pick the day
our baby was born? I asked her what day
it was and
she said the 29th. So I looked at her
with a
confused
look on my face and said "well the 29th"
not
even
thinking it was leap year. I'm not sure what
she
was
thinking but his birth certificate does say
February 29th.
#
3964
Connie
Rodgers of Georgia, USA
Because I didn't get my license renewed in a Leap
Year
while everyone else's expire on their birthdays mine
expires
on March 1 because they expire in 4 years.
#
2347 Karlynn
Fissinger of Illinois, USA
I had a bouncer in a bar tell me my Drivers
license was
an obvious fake because there are only 28 days in
February. It took a few minutes for me to get him to
realize that he was wrong. I ended up reciting the old
30 Days
hath September poem we were taught in
school before he agreed to let me inside.
EN: Good Call!
# 554 John B. Durrant
of
British Columbia, Canada
I don't know if anyone has a brother/sister story but my
younger brother was born on Leap Year Day, one Leap
Year after me. He has a story about being pulled over by
a cop. When the officer punched his drivers license into
the computer he was cited for having an invalid drivers
license. The computer system didn't recognize Leap
Year!!!
No amount of explaining would get him out of the
ticket!!
EN: That's just not right. We
are in such great
need of Leap Year Day Awareness.
# 2859 Sherri Riddle
When I was 17 and went for my learning permit, in our
state you had to be 17 before you could do this. I had
passed the
written test with flying colors and proceeded
to take off of school
on my birthday to obtain my permit.
My boyfriend (at the time, he's
now my husband) took
me to the DMV, when we got there, the clerk had
the
nerve to tell me I wasn't 17 yet! She said because it
wasn't a
leap year, I didn't have a birthday and I couldn't
"claim"
the 28th as my birthday since it clearly was not.
Well, I don't know
about anybody else, but I was so
excited about getting my permit, I
was bound and
determined I was not leaving without it! Feb 28th was
a
Friday that year, which meant I'd have to wait another
week.....
WRONG! lol I argued and argued with the clerk
until I made her get
her supervisor. I explained to him
that legally you ARE the next
year older the day
BEFORE your birthdate b/c of the way the calendar
falls. (Feb 28 on a Friday this yr, then on a sat the next!
year) these poor people didn't know what to do with me
lol, so
they let me have it ;) Don't ever give up and don't
ever let someone
try to argue with you when it comes to
having a leap year birthday.
They just won't ever win b/c
we leapers know our leapness!!
|
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Becky Turner, Texas
In 1991 my apartment was burglarized. About a week
later,
my bank contacted me concerning some checks that had
come through with a suspicious signature. I
immediately
checked where I kept my extra checks hidden and sure
enough, a box of checks were gone. This was during
the
time when it was popular to have your drivers’
license on
your checks for identification purposes. Needless to
say,
my driver’s license number made it into the
TeleCheck
system and I was unable to write a check anywhere.
After
about 10 months of a never ending nightmare, the
police
recommended that I go to the Dept. of Public Safety
and
request a new driver’s license number.
After completing all the
paperwork and providing the
necessary documentation, I arrived at the counter
where I
would be issued my new license. As the clerk was
entering
my information, the computer kept rejecting my birth
date.
I explained to her that my birthday was February 29
and the
computer was probably rejecting it because the
license
would expire in a year that did not have a 29th.
The clerk became more
exasperated as she kept trying to
get the computer to accept my information. Finally
she
looked at me and said, “You will need to pick
another day
for your birthday. This isn’t working.” I explained
to her that
the driver’s license was a legal document to verify
birth date,
so I could not just “pick another date”. By this
time she was
really agitated and asked me to step aside so she
could
help the next person in line
Luckily, the trooper
that had helped me with the
documentation happened to come by. I got his
attention,
explained the situation and asked for his help. He
was
able to do an override and I finally got my new
license.
I can laugh about it
now, but it was far from funny then.
EN: These government must be
updated nationwide.
This can not keep happening.
# 3037
Michael Branam of Colorado, USA
I was driving home on my 20th (5th) birthday and was
pulled over by a policeman for speeding. I believe I
was
going 45 in a 35, so nothing outrageous. Anyway, as
the officer took a look at my license he kind of
smirked
and said, "I've never given a ticket to a 5
year old, and I
am not going to start today". He sent me on my
way
and told me to be careful. I thanked the good man
and
went on my way...35 mph of course.
EN: Well at least this officer recognized the date!
# 4554
Shirley Knox Stueven of
Kansas, USA
While in grade school, there were three of us in my
class.
It made for lots of fun - not being the only one. My
major
frustration hit when I turned 18 and the state
drivers license
department decided to change my birthday to March
1st
because we could only get a license for 2 years at
the time.
EN: This is not right. We've
got to educate the government!
Chip
in Mississippi, USA
After
an upgrade in the early 90's, the Mississippi Highway
Patrol's database will not except the 29th as a valid day.
The officer that gave me my license manually typed the
29th on my license application that was sent to the
capital.
(EN: Isn't that illegal?)
When I got the license back in the mail, you
could tell that
the "29" was not in the same
typeface as the rest of the
license. I got harassed
several times by the police because
it looked like it had
been faked and their database had me
listed as the 28th. (EN:
INCREDIBLE!) I
had a lot of explaining
to do. Then the last time I
renewed my license they had
upgraded their equipment to where it creates your license
on site.
So now my license is not correct, it has my birth
date as
2/28/76, because they couldn't change it. But, at
least I
don't have to go around explaining why their database
is
wrong now.
EN: Yes, well, don't you have
to explain why you have to
different birth dates? This should never have to be.
PLEASE
do not allow your city/county to alter your drivers
license or
birth certificate. That is just WRONG. I hope you'll
get that
fixed and let us know if you do.
# 1 Peter
Brouwer of California, USA:
My drivers license expired February 29, 1999!
EN: All I can do is shake my
head.
# 1788 Lori Harkins of Nevada, USA
I have never met
another Leap Day baby in my 36 years, But
I do remember
going to get my first Drivers License. It came
back with
an expiration date of 1992 (16 years later than
when I got
it). I sure wish you could still get one that would
last
that long :)
EN: At least they didn't
change the birth date! Good for them
for keeping that intact.
# 1194 Dawn
Turnbeaugh of Illinois, USA
I never knew you could have your "Leap
Day" on your
drivers license. The doctor told my mother to pick
Feb. 28
or March 1. She went with the 1'st.
EN: This is
something that needs to change. Altering
a
birth
certificate or drivers license is illegal.
# 2589 Teresa
French of Texas, USA
I got out of a traffic ticket once due to my birth
date. In March
of 1986 (not a Leap Year), I was issued a ticket for
driving with
an expired driver's license. When I went to court, I
pleaded
NOT GUILTY. The judge asked what I based this on,
since
clearly my driver's license had expired. I held up
my driver's
license, and pointed to the box that displayed
BIRTHDATE:
02 29 56. Then I pointed to the box that displayed
EXPIRES
ON BIRTHDATE: 1986. (Note, the "Expires on
Birthdate"
section just displayed the YEAR). I then stated to
the judge,
"your honor, there was no February 29th in
1986". Well, the
judge was not amused (she was lacking in the sense
of
humor department), however, once she GOT IT, she
said,
"not guilty; now get the hell out of my
court-room". So there,
that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. By the way,
the Texas
Department of Public Safety has since changed the
format
of the driver's license to just show EXPIRES, then
display
the actual date. When my expiration date is not in a
Leap
Year,
it shows as expiring on February 28th.
EN: And that is how it should
be. At least they got it right in
Texas. Now let's get the other states in line!
Teddy D. Lapina Jr.
of Batangas City, Philippines
My first driving ticket in California was for
driving with an
expired license. My understanding of what is written
"Expires on your birtday" is exactly what is
written. That
year was not a leap year, I explained this to the
trooper,
he gave me a warning,
# 38 Raenell Dawn
of Oregon, USA
I went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to
update
my drivers license when I moved to Oregon, in 1993.
I
was told by the clerk at the counter, of this
government
institution, that there is no February 29. I was
told she
would have to put the 28th. I explained that the
28th is
not when I was born and that I will not accept that
because it would be incorrect. Clearly a perplexing
situation for her, I suggested she get her
supervisor.
The supervisor eventually came up with a solution.
She
allowed my license to be good until February 29,
2000.
Apparently their system jumped ahead the normal four
years from 1993. But 1997 wasn't a Leap Year so they
didn't know what to do. The supervisor finally
figured
she'd just allow my license to be a 7 year license
instead of a 4 year. |
