SACRAMENTO -- California drivers could face more intensive vision, memory and reflex tests when they renew licenses if a Department of Motor Vehicles pilot project proves successful in better identifying those who are too impaired to be on the road.
The tests are part of a new effort to determine the skills of drivers that also includes equipping DMV offices with machines that measure response times and offering some drivers a license that restricts them to operating vehicles in their neighborhoods or during certain hours of the day.
Although it could be years before the proposed program takes effect, it could stir controversy much sooner because of its potential impact on aging baby boomers.
The agency expects to reach preliminary conclusions by 2010 and report to state lawmakers the following year, said DMV spokesman Michael Marando. So the earliest that all California drivers could face any of the new tests would be 2012, and then only with the Legislature's approval.
Officials stressed that the tests are not targeting senior drivers. But with the expected rise in the state's elderly population, officials say there is a need to identify drivers with worsening vision and reflexes that may impair their driving ability. They are problems that occur most often with older drivers, but can occur among young and middle-aged people.
There have been several high-profile cases of senior drivers losing control of their cars and causing major accidents, most notably the case in 2003 in which an 86-year-old driver crashed through the Santa Monica Farmers' Market, killing 10 people.
"What we can do is try to identify drivers who probably can't drive safely," said David Hennessy, a research program specialist who recently retired from the DMV. "This is something we're especially sensitive to because of the aging of the baby boomers. We're looking to accommodate and acknowledge that fact."
Over the last few months, DMV officials in six Northern California field offices carried out a trial run of the new tests, which were given to English-speaking drivers who were unable to renew their licenses by mail. The motorists were those who came in for an eye exam and written test to renew their license, either because they did not have a clean driving record or because they were 70 or older.
Although the tests were mandatory for those drivers, the DMV did not release the results, including whether any licenses were revoked.
