My wife received her SSN yesterday. I wrote a letter back to my congressman thanking him for his help, but also telling him that I am not giving up on finding out why my wife's SS application was not accepted into SS system for two months causing us an unneeded delay. Now we need to get her a NJ drivers license. I called the agency and I was told conflicting information. The representative at the call center said that my wife would have to wait until she gets her green card before she can get her drivers license. She said since her AOS case is still pending that she is in what she called "INS LIMBO". She told me to wait until wife gets green card again, and I told her that it could take many months before we get green card, she then said, no it should only take 6 months. Obviously she is ignorant and I asked for her supervisor. She gave me a phone number to call, which I did and this new person told me the complete opposite. This new agent told me that wife needs to go to regional service center with EAD and SSC and she can then get drivers license. I was so mad with the conflicitng information that I did what I do best. I fired off a letter to my congressman, the governor, and the director of NJDMV complaining about the conflicting inforamtion. If I can say anything I have become more inclined to complain to these officials and put them to work for me as this is their job to begin with.
My question to all here is: Has anyone in NJ received their drivers license by using their EAD and SSC as we have to?

Just go to the Motor Vehicle office directly. Don't volunteer any info, just find out what the clerk requires.

Hubby has EAD and SS# (for work only). Hubby just got his license at Massachusetts RMV.

They asked for "proof of residency". He used our bank statements. Something official with his address was sufficient. Try a letter from Soc Security, use the one his card was attached to. Bills are good too, lease, etc.

Try my suggestion and see if it works, but maybe Jersey is stricter and HAS to have GC as proof of residency.

Thanks Josephine. I just read your hubby is learning to drive. My wife had her countries license so she was able to drive for a while, but it expired in FEB, so I have been her chauffeur since then. I dont mind doing it, but I know she feels that she is a burden...which she is not. Lets hope she gets her license this monday

Hubby is a great driver! Just getting him used to the car and our driving laws. He parallel parks better than me.

He had a drivers license in his country, but they won't accept it here. He has to start from scratch.

Get your wife's driving record from her country for insurance purposes. This will lower her insurance if she has a good driving record. Without it, insurance company will probably set her rate as if she were a beginning driver.

Josephine,

I'm planning to take driver license here. How much the cost for everything? I just quite nervous since I was driving on the other side of road in my country. Other than that, e'thing good.

Each state has different fees.

Hubby drives on wrong side of the road in his country too, and I think wrong side of the car.

I told him to forget everything he ever learned about driving there. Forget that he ever had a license and this is his first time driving.

Once I said this, he much relaxed and is driving like a pro. I have to teach him defensive driving here, as everyone making a left turn here takes the right of way, even though they are in the wrong.

The only thing that bothers me is he is too heavy with the brakes and uses them when cornering.

If you are used to standard transmission, do not use your left foot with an automatic transmission. Use your right foot for both the gas and the brake.

Am tired of Americans saying that other people drive on the wrong side of the road. Its the Americans who are on the wrong side, if you have been to many countries in the world.
Either way, my experience is that its a matter of getting used to driving on the "American wrong side" and it comes with time.
About the right foot, thats true, but practice makes perfect.

Defensive driving and patience on the road is a key to surviving on American roads coz there is a very big % of Normal looking psychos and weirdos out there on the roads today in the USA!

I think they should have IQ tests before they give drivers licenses everywhere. Too smart and too dumb people should be denied.

How about too old?

Driver may face charges in deadly market crash
Thursday, July 17, 2003 Posted: 1:27 PM EDT (1727 GMT)


SANTA MONICA, California (CNN) -- The 86-year-old man whose car plowed into a crowded farmers' market in Santa Monica, California, killing nine people and injuring more than 50, might face manslaughter charges, police said Thursday.

Russell Weller told police he could not stop his 1992 Buick LeSabre as it careered along a pedestrians-only road for more than three city blocks into the farmers' market crowded with shoppers.

The car finally stopped with a man on the hood and a woman pinned underneath, a witness said.

A 3-year-old girl was among the dead, and 14 people were in critical condition, authorities said. Two of those are under the age of 2.

One witness, Anne Sage, called the scene -- about three blocks from the Los Angeles suburb's landmark pier -- "complete bedlam."

"There was one woman who was obviously killed on the pavement," said Sage, a worker in a nearby office. "I went over to a young girl who was just sitting there, completely dazed, and tried to help her. It was horrendous."

Sage's co-worker, Tracy Williams, said she feels "terribly sorry" for Weller. She said a friend, who attends the same church as Weller, is "just devastated and told us what a wonderful man he is, and I feel terribly sorry for him and his wife."

Santa Monica Police Chief James Butts Jr. called the scene "the single most horrific, devastating scene of tragedy I've ever witnessed in 30 years of law enforcement."

Butts said Weller could be charged with manslaughter once police turn the case over to the district attorney's office, which he said could happen in two to three weeks.

"I think at the end of the day we're going to find a driver that had diminished capacity -- and whether that's going to rise to the level of manslaughter, that's going to be for the DA to ascertain," he said.

Butts told reporters the Buick driver has said he could not stop and may have accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake.

Hospital tests found the driver had no alcohol or psychiatric medications in his system at the time of Wednesday's crash.

Investigators searched Weller's home Wednesday night looking for prescription drugs or other evidence that could indicate he "had a diminished capacity to drive," Butts said.

"He seemed confused to me, but he had been through one of the most tragic crashes that I have ever seen," Butts said.

Weller's attorney, Jim Bianco, released a statement from the family late Wednesday:

"Mr. Weller and his family want to express their deepest sympathies to the victims and their families of the tragic accident earlier today.

A shopper is comforted after a car plowed through the farmers' market.
"This was an unintentional and unfortunate accident. Mr. Weller is very shaken up, but his thoughts are with the victims and their families."

Weller's car will undergo a mechanical investigation, Butts said.

Butts said officers have interviewed more than 100 witnesses, who gave conflicting reports regarding the driver's demeanor at the time of the crash.

"We're attempting to determine whether this was a straight accident -- medically related -- criminal negligence or criminal homicide," Butts said. "Right now it looks as though there may be some negligence as far as his capacity to drive safely."

"He said that he tried to brake, and he couldn't stop the vehicle," Butts said, adding there was no indication Weller intended to injure any pedestrians.

Police released Weller from custody Wednesday evening after detectives interviewed him.

Charges could be filed at a later time, Butts said, noting that Weller lives in Santa Monica and does not appear to be a flight risk.

Butts said Weller drove his car "at least at a moderate rate of speed" for three blocks along the market street, which was closed to traffic and filled with pedestrians.

The car stopped only after a pedestrian was thrown into the air and landed on the windshield of the vehicle, Butts said.

Witness Joe Crisman said a woman was trapped underneath the man's car and 10 people together lifted the car off the victim, who was still breathing.

Another witness, Lore Caulfield, said: "It was like a Sherman tank barreling through, hitting everything, just going right over people. He was not only speeding, he was accelerating."


http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/07/17/farmers.market.crash/index.html

It drives me mad that people don't use their turn signals here.I take my life in my hands crossing the next street over, nobody ever uses their signal to enter that street. If I don't see that the car is signalling to make the right I yake a chance, next thing I know a car is practically on top of me with the driver waving his/her arms about like it's my fault. There is a sign posted by a neighbor on the corner stressing the need to use a signal, once in a while the cops will sit and watch and ticket people who fail to signal. My husband got hit by a car there a few years back, broke his leg, the guy jumps out of the car and starts beating up my husband as he lay on the street, threatening him to keep his mouth shut as the guy was inunsured (no not an illegal BTW for you narrow minded lot). Husband sued the *** good and proper!

Where I live, people making left turns when you are going straight through the intersections TAKE the right of way even though the person going straight has the right of way.

My insurance agent told me you are always at fault if you have an accident while making a left turn, while backing up, and if you rear-end someone.

I have to teach my husband to drive defensively. I have taught him to let that left turning car go, even though that person is in the wrong.

I try to teach my husband all the laws of our land. He wouldn't dare even litter!