Letters to the Editor: A more senior-friendly DMV should still test older drivers
To the editor: It’s great that the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles has dropped the written tests for most drivers 70 and older. Although I have passed this test every time, I find that some of the questions are phrased in such a way that each preposition can easily trick you into selecting the wrong answer.
But at 92 years old, I haven’t taken a driving test since I was a teenager. I am extremely fit and healthy and believe I can pass the test anytime. I completely agree that there should be a driving test for seniors over a certain age.
Yes, I am aware that a driving tester can be unfair to an older person. My wife flunked her behind-the-wheel test because the tester said she had poor skills. For instance, after stopping, she creeped into the crosswalk while waiting for a red light. She was also cited for not being able to see the rear tires of the car in front of her touch the ground.
I challenge anybody to find this rule in the DMV handbook.
Dave Simon, North Hollywood
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To the editor: I don’t know whether to be relieved or terrified.
Relieved, because I will probably never again need to show up in Dante’s ninth circle of hell, also known as my local DMV; or terrified, because the geriatric, entitled segment of the population to which I belong is being let loose to do possibly untold damage.
Drivers over 70, with our impaired hearing, sight and reflexes (as Steve Lopez points out), to say nothing of the other ills that come with being senior citizens, should be tested twice as often as everyone else, instead of never.
Joan Walston, Santa Monica
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To the editor: I hope the DMV reaches out and offers amnesty to all of the poor seniors who lost their licenses due to its misguided former requirement that drivers over 70 take a written test when renewing.
Patricia Garcia, Upland
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To the editor: Thanks to Lopez for exposing the incompetence of the DMV. I second his motion to get back the $45 in renewal fees that I donated to these buffoons.
So now, after two visits to the San Clemente DMV to get an explanation for two indecipherable emails I received from them, I’m in the dreaded 60-day window, waiting for the snail-mail “notice” to show up for my eye test and photo.
Oh, I also second Lopez’s idea that these two requirements be farmed out to my optometrist and a photographer of my choice.
Michael J. Harley, Laguna Niguel
