Daniels Apologizes For BMV's Troubles

INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Mitch Daniels apologized Friday to the many Hoosiers who have been inconvenienced by massive computer delays at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

Daniels said security considerations made the conversion to a new computer system necessary, but he added that he was surprised by the number of glitches and delays that have plagued the system since the conversion went into effect nine days ago and has questioned commissioner Joel Silverman about it.

"The commissioner's had the computer people on the carpet and I've had him on the carpet," Daniels said. "Things are better … and I think will soon be far better than they were before, but no excuses for the disruption that happened."

Daniels said it is too early to tell how much blame falls where and whether anybody should be fired.

The BMV said online service was restored on Thursday, but self-service terminals are still down, with no clear projection for when they will return.

All BMV offices shut down over the Fourth of July weekend for the computer upgrade. Problems were noted almost immediately after offices reopened when customers waited for hours only to be told they couldn't complete transactions.