Man claiming medical issue arrested three times before fatal Oklahoma City crash
Courts: To drive or not to drive?
Comments
20
BY JAY F. MARKS
Published: October 13, 2008
Kenneth Lee Russell shouldn’t have been behind the wheel of a car on July 24.
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Public safety officials don’t track the number of times they are asked to review someone’s driving status, but the agency is monitoring more than 14,000 Oklahomans with medical issues.
Many of those drivers came to the agency’s attention after referrals from police or hospital personnel, said Clint Dickson, director of driver compliance.
He said privacy concerns would not allow him to address specific drivers, like Russell.
It typically takes officials about a week to make contact with drivers whose ability to operate a vehicle has been questioned, he said. They are asked to take a driver’s test or supply medical records to a hearing officer.
"We try to encourage people, if at all possible, to come in to see us face to face,” Dickson said.
He said an advisory board made up of seven doctors determines which medical conditions should preclude someone from driving. Another doctor is retained by the Department of Public Safety to review medical reports on individual drivers.
Dickson said the goal is to allow people to keep their driver’s license.
Sometimes restrictions are added, such as barring someone from driving at night.
"We want to be as fair as we can,” he said.
"These people, for the most part, have done nothing wrong.”
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If as Clint Dickson (DPS,Director of Driver Compliance)claims in this article and I quote, "It typically takes officials about a week to make contact with drivers whose ability to operate a vehicle has been questioned. They are asked to take a driver’s test or supply medical records to a hearing officer." AND Officer John Feith asked the DPS hearing officer to "review Russell's driving status", what happened? The DPS had over 8 (EIGHT) weeks to review and test Russell.
Jaycee, I think Mr. Dickson needs to answer this one!
What a pathetic state.
Mark:
Nah, "cooter" is just another drunk driver who doesn't like the bad press Russell is getting... it doesn't ease his conscience.