Here in Kiwiland driving licenses are issued for 10 years. The driving age used to be 15 (now 16) so the 10 year licenses needed to be renewed every "5th" birthday (25, 35, 45 etc). Until 75 you rock up to the licensing agent, fill in the form, produce two forms of ID (usually old license/birth certificate/passport plus proof of address from a Bank statement or utility bill) do a very dodgy eye test which many fail at the time so it pays to go get an Optomitrist's certificate first, have your photo taken and within 14 days the new license comes in the mail.

Between my renewal in 2006 and again last year the rules around heavy truck licenses were changed to include a medical (too many truck drivers having heart attacks behind the wheel).

My birthday is the last week of May and all documents have to be less than 2 months old, so end of February go get my eye test. Early April go visit the doctor (double appointment required due to the question answers needing to be handwritten and 3X the usual doctors fee).

Last week of April go to the licensing agency, pass over my $40, get my photo taken, hand in my old license and receve my temporary permit good for 1 month. Get home to find driver license renewal reminder in the mail. 5 days later new license is in the mail box. Relatively painless.

It seems that every week I stop a driver whose license has expired, sometimes by a year or more. Inevitably the first thing they Say is "Do they expire"? Followed by "I didn't get a reminder". At that point I determine that they have moved address 5 times since they last renewed it but have never updated their address so no, they couldn't get the reminder.

And none of these drivers seem to know anything about the concept of personal responsibility. Probably why many also do not have safety certificates or annual licenses on their cars.