When the California DMV Can Take Your License Based on Your Medical Condition and What You Can Do About It

California law gives the DMV the authority to suspend a driver’s driving privileges for a variety of reasons. One of these reasons involves physical or medical problems. These conditions can range from epilepsy to Alzheimer’s to diabetes to cataracts. If the DMV is considering taking your license due to medical problems, you have options. Talk to a skilled San Francisco DMV defense attorney to find out more about how you can possibly avoid this type of license suspension.

The DMV is tasked with ensuring that all those with active California driver’s licenses can drive safely. When the DMV contemplates suspending a driver’s license, there are certain conditions that can commonly cause a possible suspension. One problem is loss of consciousness. That can trigger a suspension whether or not you were driving when you blacked out. Other conditions can include epilepsy or anything else that causes seizures, sleep disorders (including sleep apnea), Parkinson’s, dementia, diabetes, heart problems or vision problems/deterioration.

Certainly, the ability to drive legally is something that is very important to many Californians, including seniors. Driving privileges represent independence, freedom and self-reliance. Loss of those privileges can cause many damaging things from a loss of self-esteem to a loss of employment. With all that in mind in making these decisions, the DMV is supposed to balance a driver’s need for personal mobility against the public’s need for safety on the roads.

So, say you’ve gotten a letter from the DMV and discovered that your driving privileges are to be suspended. What can you do next? Fortunately, there is still an avenue to keep you on the road legally. You can request a hearing with the DMV. This hearing is an in-person event in which the hearing officer’s job is to determine whether or not you have the necessary skill and overall health to operate a vehicle safely.

At your hearing, you can testify and you can bring witnesses and other evidence to back up your case. The hearing officer will be contemplating your strength, coordination, attention, judgment, vision and hearing, so it may help you to have witness testimony and other proof that demonstrates your strength in those areas. Additionally, the officer will be looking at events that potentially demonstrate your lack of ability to drive. So if, for example, you had an accident on your record where you hit a parked car on a clear, sunny day, it would be very important to have evidence that demonstrates that this crash did not happen due to a lapse of judgment, a loss of consciousness or control, a failure of vision or some medical trauma.

If the DMV has decided that your overall health is such that you are no longer safe to drive, it can seek to suspend your license. You can take steps to stay on the road. One of those steps is to call the Uthman Law Office. Our San Francisco DMV defense professionals have the experience you need to help defend your driving privileges. Attorney David Uthman has over 20 years of experience as a litigation attorney and almost a decade of experience as a police officer. We know the law and we know what it takes to get results. Call us today at (415) 556-9200 to schedule your FREE initial consultation.

More blog posts:

The Difference Between a Lack-of-Skill Interview and a Lack-of-Skill Hearing and What These Processes Mean to Your California Driving Privileges, San Francisco Criminal Lawyer Blog, Nov. 9, 2018

What is a ‘Special Instruction Permit’ in California and How Can This Permit Option Potentially Help Me?, San Francisco Criminal Lawyer Blog, Oct. 26, 2018