Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Question: I was in line to renew my driver's license at the city's main City Square station on Dillingham Boulevard on March 5 and witnessed the "new" renewal procedure: No written test is required, just a simple eye test. At least four out of six customers could not fully understand the questions and/or could not see! The ones that could not see were clearly struggling with the vision machine and their bifocal glasses. Some took as long as 20 minutes as the clerks "walked" them through the test and basically spoon-fed them the correct answers. And, guess what? All were issued renewals! What's the point? I do not wish to encounter these drivers along our streets! Drivers often need
staff’s help to use
machine testing visionAnswer: Based on your complaint, it may surprise you that testing will be "reduced" from four to two separate eye exams.
But in answer to your complaint: Applicants are not "spoon-fed" answers, but they may need help in using the vision-testing machine, and some may be advised to wear glasses when taking the eye exam, said David Mau, the city's assistant administrator for motor vehicles and licensing.
He said procedures are first explained because the exam looks at four areas: visual acuity, depth perception, color differentiation and peripheral vision.
Applicants who wear glasses sometimes may be able to pass the exam without their glasses. But many times, when people have a difficult time seeing, they are asked if they have glasses and, if so, to use them during the exam, Mau said. If they pass the exam at that point, he said, their licenses will note glasses are required during driving.
Also, the vision-testing machines will not activate unless people position their foreheads properly. "That's the biggest problem we are having," Mau said. So, "we need to walk people through the procedure," he said.
Meanwhile, just this past Tuesday, a meeting of county motor vehicle license examiners and state transportation officials was held to discuss revising the Department of Transportation's rules and regulations regarding driver's license exams, "the biggest one being the vision test," Mau said.
Based on consultations with the Medical Advisory Board, the depth perception and color differentiation tests will be eliminated, Mau said. That's because the visual acuity test already takes into account depth perception, and, as long as a person can see the traffic lights illuminated, it's not necessary for them to differentiate the colors, he said. "It's not lowering the standards."
Also, when someone comes in simply for a duplicate license, they won't be required to take a vision test under the proposed new rules.
Mahalo
To the kindhearted person who turned in my keys and black leather card case (with money inside) to Costco in Hawaii Kai. I had turned in some film and put my keys on the side and went home, only to discover I had no keys to get inside. To my surprise, Costco's customer service desk had my case and keys. I always try to teach my kids to be honest and turn things in that don't belong to them. I am very relieved to know that we have honest and considerate people in Hawaii. -- Mrs. L.
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