There is this old guy I am trying to do business with, old. WWII vet, POW. A very interesting guy, and I end up just chatting with him rather than business, and I’m okay with that. Anyway, he just had his DL taken away from “Two ladies at the VA that said I took my left turns too wide”. Which, of course is his side of the story. But the guy’s son is worthless, so I decided I could see if I could step in and be an advocate for him. I dunno why, I guess I appreciate his service and he seems like a nice guy. But I don’t know really where to start. I called the Minnesota DOT driver evaluation services, and was told that only doctors can take that away, but maybe the ladies report to the doctor. But from how he describes it, they seemed petty and unpleasant. So I’m wondering if there is any recourse for this guy. Is he totally screwed, or is he able to appeal the VA somehow?
Is his DL now invalid or did they just take away the physical license card?
And on a very side note, I just discovered the bridge to the VA when walking my dog on Sunday. I had no idea that other entrance was ever there.
My grandfather drove until the day he pulled out of a hardware store in Skokie Illinois and was T-boned. (we all survived)
For a full 3 or more years before that day it was terrifying to be in the car with him. He was a wonderful man who did not understand just how age had affected his driving ability.
Maybe the best way to help this man is to help him adapt to the truth that maybe he shouldn’t be driving.
I don’t think you should do anything until you get the full story.
How would “two ladies at the VA” know about his driving ability? Did he almost run them over as he was pulling into the parking lot?
I don’t know how you’d go about getting the full story. Maybe take him to the DOT office and have him ask them what happened.
It wouldn’t hurt to check around for transportation alternatives for him.
Could that have been the MVA?
Is it possible the ladies **are **doctors?
How do you know his son is worthless?
I ask these things since dirty old men can be freakishly strong and have nothing lose when they have a grope at women giving them a ride somewhere out of the kindness of their hearts.
A license in Minnesota can be made conditional on a doctor’s evaluation. If this gentleman is getting his medical care from the VA, he might bring them the form when he gets it. Consequently he might blame them if he then flunks the medical tests.
For what it’s worth.
Most plausible explanation so far, given the scarcity of fact we now have.
The two ladies were somehow evaluators for the VA I suspect. He was made to drive around with them for an hour. By who, I don’t know. I suspect a doctor. His son is mentally unstable and has in the past been vindictive towards his father. I was interested in a property he owns that is next to my cousin’s property, so I was able to get background on the guy. I’ve never heard of the VA having people evaluate a person’s driving before, but it’s a big place, maybe they do work in that way.
Assuming that story about two observers from the VA is true (I have no idea), I would seriously doubt that the VA would be eager to yank someone’s DL for no good reason. I’d be willing to put good money on him being a really bad judge of his own driving ability.
He has to be in at least his mid-eighties to have been a WW2 veteran and POW. And that is if he was 16 or 17 when the war started.
Why do you want to advocate for him to drive? He is going to get someone killed, certainly himself, probably someone else too.
Pay for his taxi rides, maybe, but he shouldn’t be driving. And I don’t want to hear about somebodies grandfather who drives just fine at 90.
His DL has been suspended, for probably good reasons.
Yeah, it sounds like the people who have the authority to take his DL away in the first place would probably do it for a good reason. I say this as someone who witnessed an 80 year old woman get to “retake” the eye-exam component of her DL renewal upwards of 8 times…
:rolleyes:
In my very limited experience, usually when a doc yanks the drivers license, it’s for a good reason. Absolutely nothing wrong and something very right about you advocating to make sure that this is justified.
Whether it was the Ace or the Crafty Beaver, I’m not surprised. That stretch of Oakton seems to turn people into blind race car drivers.
NC, I think your heart is in the right place, but maybe not your common sense. If this guy really is not a safe driver, then he shouldn’t be on the road. As much as you like the guy, it sounds like he’s pretty old and his faculties aren’t what theu used to be. How would you feel if you helped him get his licence back and he ended up driving into a crowd?
I would suggest that you would do more to help him by assisting him with new strategies in getting around where he needs to go. I don’t know what that would entail - bus passes, maybe? Giving him rides when you can? I don’t know, but it would be better to do something that would address his new reality rather than trying to get his old one back.
If a doctor took his DL away, it probably for a good reason, though, and I think you’d be unlikely to reverse it, and might live to regret it even if you did.
I think you have to start with the DMV and find out if there is any revocation of his license on record. What would they tell him if he claimed he lost his wallet and wanted to get a replacement license?
If these women just seized his license in some odd scheme involving his son, he should be able to get a replacement without a problem. If it was something genuine, the DMV has to have some kind of record of an action taken. Plus, they can tell him if there’s an appeal process.
Pretty much this. Most WWII vets would be pushing 80 to 90 at this point and you assume there’s some conspiracy to deprive him of his driving rights vs the remote possibility that a man approaching 90 might not be all that great at driving?