The statewide computer data system that manages motor vehicle and driver’s licensing operations for all four counties shut down at about 11:30 a.m. Friday, forcing county officials across the state to turn away motorists and making it more difficult for police officers to obtain warrant information.
A backup system was put in place by the city Department of Information Technology at about 6:30 p.m. Friday, and a permanent fix was expected to be done by noon today, city Information Technology Director Gordon Bruce said.
The statewide Drivers Licensing and Motor Vehicle Registration System is operated by the City and County of Honolulu under an agreement in place since 1968, Bruce said. The state pays the city to run the operation.
City officials blamed the glitch on a "hardware failure." A replacement part was expected to arrive late Friday night.
It’s unclear how many motorists were affected by the outage. The City Square Branch of the city Division of Motor Vehicles, Licensing and Permits in Kapalama is the busiest satellite city hall on Oahu. Officials there said about 25 people were in line when the glitches began late Friday morning. The outage also prevented motorists from registering their vehicles or applying for a license via the city’s DMV website.
About 100 to 150 people are processed on a typical Friday afternoon in the middle of an average month, city officials said. Fridays and Mondays at the beginning and end of a month are typically the busiest days at the DMV.
On Oahu, DMV offices remained open through normal closing time, and motorists requiring written and oral tests continued to take them, although their applications could not be processed.
Police patrol officers used to accessing warrant information checks from dispatchers via the vehicle registration system could not do so and needed to take additional steps — and time — to tap the information they needed through the state Judiciary Information Management System.
Bruce stressed that the state warrants information system was never shut down.
The city has had a backup system in place as part of its overall disaster recovery plan, Bruce said. Officials began putting a portion of that plan into place late Friday afternoon, he said.
"We tested the system in August, so we knew what to do," Bruce said. "Our protocol is if we’re unable to bring up the production system within four hours, we need them to bring up our disaster recovery site." On Friday, backup measures were triggered by 2 p.m., he said.
At no time was the data system in danger of being wiped out or being subjected to a security breach, he said.
