A program now implemented at CSUN requires administrators to help monitor the driving records of its employees who are required to drive on state business.
The program, called the Department of Motor Vehicles Employee Pull Notice program, requires that driving records of employees who drive on university business, with any type of street-legal vehicle more than three times a month, be monitored by the university.
CSUN’s Department of Public Safety compiles information forms from the hundreds of employees who drive on university business and transfers the information to a DMV enrollment form. After the enrollment form is sent to the DMV, the Department of Public Safety is sent back the driving records of the employee.
Although a point person is used in each part of the university to coordinate the paperwork, CSUN police spokesperson Christina Villalobos said the only individuals who see the driving records are herself and Anne Glavin, CSUN chief of police.
The records are updated every 12 months, unless there is a negative infringement on the employee’s record, according to Brenda Harris, EPN manager at the DMV.
If there is a negative infringement, records with violation information are sent immediately.
Some CSUN staff members do not seem to mind having to register with the program in order to drive on university business.
Patrick Maloney, an athletic trainer at CSUN, has to drive a golf cart around campus almost every day, and this requires him to be registered with the DMV.
“I think it’s a good thing that they get people’s driving records,” Maloney said. “It keeps the campus safe.”
Vanessa Benitez, who works in the Associated Students office, had similar comments, and also said she does not see the EPN as an invasion of privacy.
According to Villalobos, driver’s records are kept with the utmost confidentiality.
“People have been concerned about an invasion of privacy, but after our confidentiality policy is explained to them, they have been very cooperative to the program,” Villalobos said.
At CSUN, the Insurance and Risk Management Department requires that employees remain in the program until they are separated from the university.
Employees must maintain a safe driving record in order to drive vehicles on university business.
Villalobos said that by requiring employees to enroll with the program, the department is protecting people on campus by promoting driver safety, as well as reducing the university’s liability.
“In a hypothetical situation, it would be really unsafe if someone who had Driving Under the Influence on their record to be operating a campus vehicle,” said Christina Villalobos, Public Safety spokesperson. “It puts students, staff, faculty, and even that driver at a risk.”
An infraction on an employee’s record does not mean the loss of that person’s job at CSUN. Said?
Each case is weighted, and the type of infraction and the number of other infractions on the employee’s record will be the decisive factors, Villalobos said.
The program was started in 1982, and according to Harris, it was mainly established to promote driver safety through the ongoing review of driver records.
“What (Employee Pull Notice Program) really means is that we’ll have a safer campus,” Villalobos said. “There is a concern for people who come to our campus, and a concern for those who drive on campus.”
Sanaz Bakhtiari can be reached at sanaz.bakhtiari.396@csun.edu.
