Letters to the Editor: Why is the DMV allowed to practice age discrimination?

To the editor: Many drivers over 70 years old who must take a test to renew their license most likely remember Jesse Unruh, the longtime California legislator who authored the Unruh Civil Rights Act. The law established that no California business shall discriminate against anyone for any reason, including age. (“Older drivers have road rage over DMV test questions. Some would prefer driving test,” column, April 15)

The 1959 law has been amended multiple times to evolve with our changing state, but the California Department of Motor Vehicles is still allowed to discriminate based on age by requiring drivers older than 70 to take a knowledge test to renew their license, regardless of their record.

Drivers starting from ages 16 to 69 can simply renew without a test. Is that fair or equitable to drivers who are over the age of 70?

I know seniors who are giving up their license simply because they do not want to deal with going to the DMV or are intimidated by its non-user-friendly technology. That is wrong.

It is disgusting how the DMV treats senior drivers. If it truly cares about their safety, it needs to create an age-appropriate renewal process, because the current system and knowledge test simply promote age discrimination.

Ken Walsh, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Driving an automobile is a skill that requires alertness, reactive ability and anger management skills. Registration and testing are part and parcel of the privilege of driving an automobile.

If only firearms were as regulated as vehicles on the public roadways, our society would function in a saner and safer fashion.

Ben Miles, Huntington Beach

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To the editor: Steve Lopez’s column on license renewal for seniors hit it on the nose.

Just recently I took the DMV’s written test. I studied the driver’s handbook numerous times and practiced the exam. I am a retired teacher whose age is on the other side of 70, and I flunked the DMV’s test.

Yes, I’d rather just take the behind-the-wheel test or have my doctor or adult children vouch for my competence as a driver. That would be better than trying to remember laws that pertain to driving a big rig, the blood alcohol limit for 18-year-olds or the penalty for abandoning an animal on the highway.

I’d write more about this, but I have to study for the DMV test that I must take again.

Barbara Azrialy, Los Angeles