8. Senior Driver Suspensions
The Process
Sometimes an encounter with law enforcement or other situations may cause Mendocino County law enforcement to issue a DS 427 Notice of Noncompliance. Typically an informal telephone interview is conducted by a DMV driver safety hearing officer to determine if certain facts justify a suspension. It is always advisable to contact a local Ukiah DUI or DMV defense lawyer to discuss the nature of this interview and how to approach and prepare for this interview.
The hearing officer will complete a DS 2124 Driver Safety Report recommending a suspension, set aside (removal of suspension) or other action. If the decision is suspension, then the driver typically receives a Notice of Suspension/Revocation which indicates that the driving privilege has been suspended as of a certain date and that the driver has a certain amount of time to request a formal hearing to challenge that suspension. If you are notified of such a reexamination, you should consider requesting a hearing in Ukiah within the time allowed for such a request so that you may have the opportunity to explain any unfair decision and demonstrate your ability to drive safely.
As with medical suspensions, the Santa Rosa DMV recognizes that your age and any need to sharpen safe driving skills are not your fault. This is an opportunity to show you are not a hazard on the MendocinoCounty roads. As with any governmental hearing, a local Mendocino County DUI lawyer can be extremely helpful guiding you through the process, especially since we work with the same type of process daily with DUI suspensions, and other types of driver license suspensions such as physical and mental suspensions, too many bad points suspensions, and other similar administrative proceedings at the DMV.
Often such a hearing will result in the opportunity to take one or more drive tests and a written knowledge test so that you can show safe driving and adequate cognitive ability. You may be tested annually thereafter.
Improve Your Chances of Succeeding
The Santa Rosa DMV (nearest DMV hearing office to Mendocino County) tests for certain identified indicators of safe driving when testing the elderly (such as performance merging, changing lanes and backing up), so a specialized practice and training course may minimize the chances of later disappointment. You may wish to examine the DMV Senior Guide for Safe Driving to study many common issues senior drivers face.
Although senior drivers can be among the safer operators on the road because of sheer experience, still, you may wish to consider reviewing the general written test handbook (click here to see the DMV 2010 Handbook) and taking a driver training course specializing in teaching the elderly safe driving techniques that may have been forgotten over the years. In most cases, the DMV will facilitate a senior taking a refresher driving course by issuing a Special Instruction Permit which allows driving with an instructor in the vehicle until the next drive test is taken. Click here to find some of the DMV Approved Senior Refresher Courses.
Most drivers have certain times of day and certain areas in which they are most comfortable. It is always best to schedule your Mendocino County tests at times and in places where you are most able to demonstrate your skills rather than in unfamiliar or less comfortable conditions. For example, if you live in Ukiah, it would not normally be wise to schedule your drive test in Petaluma, and if you're usually sleepy after lunch, schedule your test in the morning.
A local Mendocino County DUI lawyer can be very helpful in senior driver suspensions to literally hold your hand during the re-examination hearing in Ukiah or Petaluma, and to help obtain a provisional license to take a refresher course and to address the precise issues of concern to Santa Rosa DMV.
Click here on DMV & Senior Drivers to obtain detailed information on how the DMV approaches senior drivers.