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DMV Expands Record Sharing In Wake of Randolph Crash

Photo of crosses erected at roadside memorial.
Sean Hurley/NHPR

Two years after a group of motorcyclists and a pick-up truck driven by a Massachusetts resident with a checkered driving history collided in Randolph, the State of New Hampshire says it has formally joined a nationwide effort to share certain driver’s license data with other states.

New Hampshire became the 34th state to join the State-to-State Verification Service, a voluntary collaboration that allows participating states to determine if a driver’s license applicant already holds a license in another state. 

Participation in the system, which required legislative changes approved by New Hampshire lawmakers, is one of several steps taken by the state following the crash in Randolph that left seven motorcyclists dead and revealed a breakdown in cross-border record keeping in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and states across the country.

Volodymyr Zhukovskyy is facing seven counts of negligent homicide after allegedly veering across the center line on Route 2 while towing an empty car carrier, where he came into contact with members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club.  Toxicology reports show Zhukovskyy had fentanyl, morphine and cocaine in his system at the time of the crash. He has pleaded not guilty and alleges that he never crossed the road’s center line. An appeal of his denied bail is pending before the New Hampshire Supreme Court. 

Along with a drug-related arrest in Texas in 2019, Zhukovskyy was arrested in Connecticut shortly before the Randolph crash for driving under the influence, but his Massachusetts driver’s license was still active due to a massive backlog in out-of-state record notifications and other communication breakdowns in the state’s RMV record processing system.

A review of New Hampshire’s DMV record processing system revealed similar deficiencies, including more than 22,000 unprocessed license notifications at the time of the accident. In the two years since the crash, the DMV says it has implemented new systems and eliminated any backlog in all “critical areas,” and has begun issuing paper notifications to other states when a driver is cited in New Hampshire.

Massachusetts and New Hampshire have also created an electronic system to communicate driver infractions and suspensions. 

Following the Randolph crash, a Boston Globe investigation into nationwide flaws in how driver infractions are shared across state lines found seven other fatalities linked to driver’s who should have had their licenses revoked. 

Todd started as a news correspondent with NHPR in 2009. He spent nearly a decade in the non-profit world, working with international development agencies and anti-poverty groups. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University.
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