When it comes to the California Department of Motor Vehicles and its policies and practices, people are not shy. They have opinions, suggestions and complaints that they can't wait to download, and I'm still going through hundreds of responses to my column on driver's license renewals for people 70 years of age or older.
I had written about the requirement, starting Jan. 1, that anyone 70 or older who wants to renew must go to a DMV office for a knowledge test and vision exam. The requirement had actually been in place since 1978, but was temporarily lifted during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing for seamless online renewals.
My column explored the question of whether, as some insisted, this was a case of age discrimination. Many people argued that one should be judged by his driving record, not by his age. I dug up statistics that suggest that older drivers, by percentage, have fewer accidents than those in their 20s and 30s. But that is somewhat misleading because they tend to travel fewer kilometers.
Reader response was all over the place.
California is about to be hit by a wave of aging populations, and Steve Lopez is taking advantage of it. His column focuses on the blessings and burdens of old age and how some people are challenging the stigma associated with older adults.
Jeanne Schuster of West Covina called the license renewal requirements “age discrimination pure and simple.”
Terry Kinigstein of Calabasas took the other side.
“All my friends are at least 75 years old and I wouldn't let half of them take me anywhere,” he said.
Last year, Kinigstein managed to avoid any fender bender while driving to my house. Then we got in my car and headed to a Dodger game without incident.
But Kinigstein just renewed his license, took the written test and vision test, and has no complaints.
“It's hard for me to see the harm in requiring capable drivers,” said Kinigstein, a retired attorney.
Many readers said the in-person process isn't that bad, especially if you make an appointment, but not everyone was in and out quickly. Connie Hornyak of Irvine said she had to wait two hours for her test and that there were so few chairs in the waiting room that “at one point I went to the bathroom just so I could sit down.”
Two things stood out to me as I read reader comments. Many people complained about the exam questions. And many people said it would be more helpful, after a certain age, to require driving tests, rather than written ones.
I'm going to address both topics, but first some clarifications.
When I wrote that at age 70 or older, renewing your license requires an in-person vision exam and knowledge test, that was largely true. But some readers told me they were able to take the online test at home, so I asked the DMV what was happening.
I was told that in some cases, depending on driving history and other factors, you may be able to take the test online or qualify for something called an e-learning course, which is an approximately 45-minute driver's education and assessment program. You can find out if those are options for you by going to Older drivers website and begin the process of renewing your license online. But you will still have to go to a DMV office for the vision test.
Now let me get back to the test questions that irritated so many readers, including Brea's Carolyn Bryant. She said she has been driving for 57 years, spent a Saturday studying the driver's manual, took five practice tests on a Sunday and thought she was ready.
“I was wrong,” Bryant said.
He failed the exam on the first try and passed the second, but said none of the 25 questions had been on the practice exams.
“Some of the questions were incredibly demanding,” Bryant said, “and not related to anything important that older drivers should remember. An example: What is the fine for abandoning an animal on the side of the road? What what? “I don't know any older person who would do something so stupid and heartless.”
The animal issue had many readers barking. But it was not the only one.
“I missed a question about oil tankers and railroad crossings,” said Arthur Siciliano, 87, of West Hills. “Again, what does that prove about my ability to safely operate a motor vehicle?”
So who comes up with these questions?
DMV Deputy Director Anita Gore says the test is periodically evaluated and modified using a “linear on-the-fly testing algorithm.”
I don't know what that means, but it could be part of the problem.
Gore said the tests are designed to be “fair to everyone” and help determine whether “drivers have the knowledge necessary to safely operate a vehicle.” All the questions, he said, are taken from the California Driver's Manual.
But let me go back to Siciliano, who believes that the written test is the wrong way to determine whether an elderly driver is capable of driving. It recommends “a system to verify that older drivers do not have any physical or mental impairments that could affect their ability to drive safely. Maybe a certification from the family doctor.”
Tim Jahns, 74, of Hemet, said he believes the state should require driving tests instead of written tests that contain “many minor or largely irrelevant questions.”
“Only an actual driving test could determine physical fitness or weed out those who are incapable of driving safely,” Jahns said.
One reader who strongly agreed was Mark Mitock, for whom this topic is tragically personal.
“My daughter was murdered in 1998 at a marked crosswalk by a 96-year-old man suffering from the effects of strokes and dementia,” Mitock said in an email. “She had received her last license in the mail, no questions asked.”
Brandi Mitock I was 15 years old. She and her father had just parked on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica and Brandi was crossing the street to grab a snack. Mitock still remembers the “horrible sound” of “steel impacting flesh” and remembers her own primal scream.
Mitock began pushing for legislative action, and the late Tom Hayden, then a state senator, introduced the Brandi Mitock Safe Driving Act, which required driving tests starting at age 75. But only minor provisions survived the legislative process under pressure from those who requested legislative action. bill a form of age discrimination.
“There are no 80-year-old pilots flying airplanes,” Mitock argued, which applies to commercial airplanes, but not private airplanes. Mitock said that at 77 he still drives, but he is not opposed to written or driving tests. He said he believes he drives safely, but believes he should be required to demonstrate his abilities.
I have two opinions. Many people are intelligent and active in their 70s and 80s, and a driver's license is a form of freedom that they, understandably, won't give up easily. And yet our vision, judgment, and reflexes diminish, and I will never forget how terrifying my father was behind the wheel when he insisted that he was safer than anyone else on the road.
Mitock said he thinks we need a state task force and a public conversation that weighs driving rights and risks to try to reach some balance. I don't know if there is a legislator, geriatric medical group, or senior policy consortium that would take up the call, but they might support the idea.
The most important consideration, Mitock said, a quarter-century after losing her daughter, is “what's best for public safety?”
