Cathern Olson recounts her two-year bout with the Department of Motor Vehicles

In 1917, Cathern Olson learned to drive a Model T.

Two years later, when she was 16 and living in Portland, Ore., the grandson of her family’s landlady taught her to handle a Model A with its three-speed transmission system.

“From then on,” Olson said June 4, at home in Apple Valley, “I was our landlady’s chauffeur.”

In more than 72 years of driving, Olson has had no traffic tickets and only one accident: “in the early 1940s on a gravel road in Northern California, when the flatbed ahead of me slammed on its brakes.”

Yet on March 29, 2000, her nephew, who does not live in the High Desert, wrote to the Department of Motor Vehicles, saying that Olson, who has limited head-movement to the right, had “imperfect peripheral vision” and should have her license revoked.

Since then, Olson has had to take the DMV’s written test three times (she passed each test, never missing more than three questions).

She was also required to take the driving test four times — even though she’d passed it on the second try.

“I am sure it’s because of my age,” Olson said, still angry. “I wonder how many other senior citizens are treated this way?”

With that, she read from a letter she’d written to the DMV’s Driver Safety Section in San Bernardino. The letter is dated Dec. 23, 2001, shortly after Olson learned that she must take the driving test yet again:

“In reply to your notice of findings and decision, I am requesting a departmental review of this decision.

“Please note that after failing my first driving test [in Victorville] on Oct. 17, 2000, I took driving instruction from the Autobahn Driving School [in Apple Valley]. Soon after passing the driving course, I was reexamined by the DMV [again in Victorville, on Feb. 8, 2001] and passed the driving test... with fewer than half the maximum errors (allowable).”

On Oct. 17, 2001, Olson took the driving test a third time in Victorville and failed.
Her letter continues:

“I personally never heard of anyone having to be retested after passing a driving test. I feel the third test was prejudicial due to my age.

“I had additional mirrors installed on my vehicle prior to my second test to solve any physical handicap, as recommended by [the examiner] during my first driving test....

“Perhaps [the examiner] forgot I use the checking traffic and blind spots, which would account for 14 out of 17 discrepancies on his score sheet.

“I am a widow... and require a vehicle for medical needs, groceries and essential daily living. I drive in a limited area close to my home. Revoking my license has created a tremendous hardship on me...

“Please be advised that [her nephew] has never seen me or been with me while I was driving a vehicle. I am requesting a fair evaluation of my driving ability and will limit my driving for essential needs only.”

January came and went with no response from the DMV. And so in February of this year, Olson called the Hesperia office of state Sen. William J. “Pete” Knight, R-Palmdale.
“I felt I needed some clout on my side,” she said.

Christian Nelson, Knight’s district representative, called the DMV in Sacramento and arranged for Olson to take the test on May 16 — this time in San Bernardino.

“In our area,” Nelson said last week, “that’s the DMV office that hears appeals.”

Olson passed and on May 30 received an interim license, good for 60 days.

But five days later, she was still anxious: What would happen in 60 days?

“It’s not fair,” Olson said of her ordeal. “We don’t all age the same. It’s as if my life had been chopped off. I’ve lived in this apartment for five years. The thought of having to move to a retirement home is just killing me.”

Remarking that “taxis are rare and expensive up here,” Olson said, “I couldn’t have managed without friends driving me.

“People at Church of the Valley have wanted to help, but it’s hard for me to ask. Plus, I’m determined to get my license back. I don’t want to get involved in (anything less than independence).”

A few days later, I spoke with Apple Valley’s Lois Connors, whose husband, Jim, a retired Los Angeles County deputy sheriff, volunteers as associate state coordinator for AARP’s Driver Safety Program, a refresher course for drivers.

Jim Connors, 76, coordinates instructors throughout San Bernardino County and in most of Riverside County. Lois Connors, 73, volunteers as telephone coordinator, matching prospective students with classes scheduled near their home.

According to Lois Connors, the eight-hour course helps students refine their present driving skills, warns them of age-related changes that can affect one’s driving ability, and, in many states, qualifies students for reduced car-insurance premiums.

“By law,” she said, “California insurance companies must give you a discount if you take the course.”

When it was founded in 1979 — as 55 Alive — the program was meant for people 50 years old or older. But today, Lois Connors said, licensed drivers of any age may take the course, “and you need not belong to AARP.”

Furthermore, once a year, the Connorses attend a behind the wheel seminar hosted by the Drive Quest Authorized Driving School of Southern California.

There, it was learned that any doctor, policeman or family member who thinks that a driver is a menace on the road — a danger to themselves or to others — may write to the DMV as Cathern Olson’s nephew did.

Speaking of which, Olson had said on June 4 that not until December 2000 did her nephew admit to having turned her in. “It’s broken our relationship,” she said, “and makes me very sad.”

The good news is that the week of June 9, with the expert help of Drive Quest Authorized Driving School and others, Olson received her license, valid until 2006. Now she can return to volunteering at the Victor Valley Museum and tutoring for the Laubach Literacy Program held at Church of the Valley.

Stressing that it’s not up to Sen. Knight’s office to decide if a driving test was graded fairly, Christian Nelson said, “If Cathern had retaken the test and not passed it, she would not have her license now.

“But it worked out well for her. Cathern retook the test and showed that she is, indeed, a safe driver.”