Making It Happen : License Can Be Renewed Without Detouring to DMV : CITY SMART: How to thrive in the urban environment of Southern California.

Need to get your driver’s license renewed and dreading the trip down to the Department of Motor Vehicles? Here’s how you can get it done without standing in long lines.

* Drivers with a good record (a maximum of one accident and one traffic ticket in a two-year period) can renew their licenses by mail up to two times without taking a written test.

* Provided DMV has your correct address, it will mail the following material about two months before your license expiration date (always your birth date): a list of driving safety questions (new rules to raise drivers’ awareness), a driver’s license renewal form and a voter registration form.

* The answers to most of the five or six questions can be found in the California Driver Handbook published each year by the DMV. Some of the questions may require common-sense answers not necessarily found in the handbook.

* Return the completed questionnaire with $12 and the DMV will mail a new license with your old picture in three to five weeks.

* Despite a good driving record, after two renewals, you’ll need to visit a department office. The DMV will send out another short questionnaire that should be filled out and brought into the office, along with your license. Be prepared to take a vision test and have your picture taken.

* By 1998, traditional paper licenses will be phased out. All motorists carrying paper licenses will receive special letters requiring them to make a trip to the DMV to have their pictures taken for licenses that resemble plastic credit cards. (Obtaining a replacements for these new licenses can be done by phone because department computers now store the photograph and signature data.)