Driver License

[medic3500]

Was going to follow up with the latest on the post regarding driver license requirements, can't find the post, seems I have lost a couple of days worth.

Started today around 0830 hrs and was walking out the door with license in hand by 1000 hrs. It is a cake walk if you go prepared. Take original passport, DL along with photocopies I also gave a copy of my ACR which they kept, but didn't ask for. Before even going into LTO get your drug screen for 300 php at one of the numerous places within a 30 second walk and your medical which by the way is an absolute joke for 150 php.  Take all documents back to window 14 at LTO application screening. They will review everything and give you a one page application that takes 30 seconds to fill out. Take it back to the same window you will be issued a number for the waiting game. You will be called up by number to different windows, for pictures, payment (615 php), review and then actual license.
Completely painless, was surprised it went so fast and much cheaper than the GF had been quoted by someone who could expedite things. 

[Gray Wolf]

Yep, looks like we lost a day or two worth of posts.  I'm officially blaming China and North Korea for this heinous act and personally declare war on them both!  A pox on China and the PRK!          

[swandivr]

I gotta tell ya...the first time I went in for my license,and they said something about a drug test,I about told them to take a flying ****.I am seriously tempted to forget about the license altogether...not because I can't pass a drug test,but because this is just too over the top.What is next? Iris scans?

The longer I live here,the more surprised I am as to what people here will allow their government to do to them.

[BudM]

It seems like governments every where are screwed up but at the same time, in a lot of instances, the crap is bought on by some people doing stupid things and in turn causing inconvenience and discomfort for others.

[medic3500]

I don't understand the concern about taking a drug screen before getting a drivers license. I realize that driving is a granted privilege and not a right not only in this country, but any country I have been too. As long as the test is supposedly administered to everyone equally, yes I know some people pay their way out of doing it the legal way and circumvent the system. Urine test is quite easy to defeat if they are not random. With the only exception being for smoking pot all of the drugs they are testing for, metabolize and are out of the body in 72 hours. Pot on the other hand can take weeks or months if a heavy user.

[Art, just a re(tired) Fil-Am]

I don't understand the concern about taking a drug screen before getting a drivers license. I realize that driving is a granted privilege and not a right not only in this country, but any country I have been too. As long as the test is supposedly administered to everyone equally, yes I know some people pay their way out of doing it the legal way and circumvent the system. Urine test is quite easy to defeat if they are not random. With the only exception being for smoking pot all of the drugs they are testing for, metabolize and are out of the body in 72 hours. Pot on the other hand can take weeks or months if a heavy user.

I remembered long ago when I had to renew my license! No problem concerning their drug test! I was there early and when it came time to pee in the bottle I couldn't fill up the bottle! So, I bought a few of their bottled water they we're conveniently selling right there in their office! It took me all afternoon to get my license all because I couldn't pee in their bottle at request! I was already prepared too, because I drank a lot of coffee that morning before leaving the house, but I couldn't hold it and had to go pee before arriving at LTO! 

[swandivr]

I don't understand the concern about taking a drug screen before getting a drivers license. I realize that driving is a granted privilege and not a right not only in this country, but any country I have been too. As long as the test is supposedly administered to everyone equally, yes I know some people pay their way out of doing it the legal way and circumvent the system. Urine test is quite easy to defeat if they are not random. With the only exception being for smoking pot all of the drugs they are testing for, metabolize and are out of the body in 72 hours. Pot on the other hand can take weeks or months if a heavy user.

I believe drug tests are an unwarranted intrusion on our privacy.Passing a drug test isn't the problem,it's the notion that a government can demand it that bothers me.We could argue that position that some take that driving isn't a right,but a granted privilege all night long,but at the end of the day,a drug test is an unwarranted intrusion and even worse,a suggestion that you must be a drug user if you take offense.

[Gray Wolf]

I believe drug tests are an unwarranted intrusion on our privacy.Passing a drug test isn't the problem,it's the notion that a government can demand it that bothers me.We could argue that position that some take that driving isn't a right,but a granted privilege all night long,but at the end of the day,a drug test is an unwarranted intrusion and even worse,a suggestion that you must be a drug user if you take offense.

I'll have to agree with you on this one, swandivr.  If anyone thinks that it's not an intrusion into your civil liberties, then just see how far you would get if those "on the dole" were required to pass one in order to get monetary assistance.  It ain't fair!!   

[Frosty]

Swandivr I agree with you that it is an intrusion in your privacy.
But look at it another way I'm required by the feds and by my employer to take random drug test because of the license I hold here in the states. I fill a lot better knowing that the guy on the interstate driving 75 mph with 5000 gallons gasoline behind him is sober and not high on something.

[BudM]

I don't think anyone said anything about not wanting to take one might suggest you are a drug user if you take offense and I don't think anyone said that it isn't an intrusion on civil liberties.  They require it though so I would think that the best thing for anyone to do who gets so uncomfortable and upset over just decide that they are not going to go through the agony and then don't drive.

[BudM]

I could hardly get my reply in because of the last two posts but I agree with Frosty.  I was already in the Navy when they started random drug testing.  All you heard was moaning and groaning over it.  At the same, to me anyway, it seemed to cut down some of the crap.  I did not say it eliminated it.  I can tell you though, that I know there were guys working the flight deck at night crawling down in to some hole somewhere doing pot.  After the testing got going, they were either hiding out better or quit doing it out to sea. 

[Gray Wolf]

Taking a pee test one day out of 365 doesn't mean that the drivers will not be drinking the other 364.  It's a sham test designed to make others "feel good" about those receiving a license, and of course it makes money for the clinic or doctor who contracts with the LTO.  I'd like to see their process to find out just how the fee is spent.  I'd be willing to bet that 95% goes into someone's pocket

[Art, just a re(tired) Fil-Am]

When I was still in the military I experienced what they called random drug testing!
If it was so random, I don't know why I was picked so often and I didn't even do drugs!
I have to renew my RP driver's license this year! I hope I can time it right and fill up their
little bottle at the first try! If not, it'll be a long day! 

[BudM]

Well, maybe they need to start taking samples on the side of the road when you get pulled over.

[medic3500]

That's not far fetched Bud. I came from a small nothing there state except NASCAR. The laws are pretty straight forward, if you are pulled over for anything and the officer request sobriety check, and you refuse the officer has a couple of options. 1 he lets you go with a ticket. 2. he places you under arrest confiscates your license and takes you to the designated hospital where blood is forcefully collected if you don't cooperate. I don't agree with it and also feel it is a total invasion of privacy. I come from the medical field and worked with many cops on a regular basis many which I had absolutely no respect for as they routinely abused their power. The Constitution has slowly been eroded to a piece of paper without merit. Illegal search and seizure doesn't hold up in court anymore, freedom of speech is a worthless clause, and now the right to bear arms is being taken away. It's not going to get better. That's one reason I moved here at least if the same thing happens here I expect it and it doesn't come as a surprise.