Law to Detect Poor Drivers Is Underutilized, Critics Say

Years after two grieving parents lobbied for a Missouri law to help clear the roads of dangerous drivers, the couple wonder whether the law is doing enough good.

Sheldon and Karen Suroff's son, Jason, died nearly 12 years ago when a 91-year-old man drove the wrong way down Interstate 70. The man's pickup ran Jason Suroff's car off the road.

Jason Suroff and his friends, who were on their way to a Van Halen concert, flipped three times. His friends survived, but Suroff, 21, was killed instantly.

The Suroffs, of Creve Coeur, pushed lawmakers to pass a law that allows people to report bad driving. But six years after the law took effect, observers wonder why more people aren't using it.

For the first time since the law passed, fewer Missourians received letters from the state asking them to prove they were fit to drive, according to records requested by the Post-Dispatch.

After a steady rise since 2001, the Department of Revenue, which handles the state's drivers license bureau, investigated 2,025 drivers last year. That was 255 fewer investigations than the previous year.

"There's just no consistent promotion here of the law," Sheldon Suroff said. "The law is just not being exposed, or people just don't know about it."

Under the law, anyone with intimate knowledge that a person's driving skills are diminishing can file what's known as a driver condition report. Family members, doctors, police, state employees, even friends and neighbors can fill out the reports, which are kept confidential.

Purposefully filing a misleading report is a Class A misdemeanor.

Department of Revenue employees were the only segment that submitted fewer reports last year. In 2003, they filed reports that led to 1,150 investigations. Last year, their reports led to 707 investigations, a dip of 39 percent. State officials believe the drop happened because the state changed its requirement for license renewal from every three years to every six years, so employees saw fewer people.

"We know the system is a success in the fact that we are continuing to see reports on drivers, and that we are following up on those drivers, and that some of those tests and retests end up with restrictions on their licenses," Department of Revenue spokeswoman Jessica Robinson said.

Missouri doesn't keep track of the number of reports it receives-only the number of reports officials investigate. The department cannot monitor the results of investigations, but it says a third of the reports investigated lead to some type of action, such as restriction or revocation.

The state can take actions against the driver including making drivers wear glasses and taking away their licenses altogether.

Illinois has no such law, although it does require drivers 75 and older to pass a road test to renew their licenses.

Missouri drivers licenses are good for six years. For drivers 70 and older, they're good for three years. When drivers renew their licenses, they must pass vision and street sign recognition tests.

A lot of motorists whose skills are slipping still refuse to quit driving without intervention, experts say.

Diminished driving skills have proved catastrophic. In 2003, an 86-year-old California man crashed his car into the Santa Monica Farmer's Market, killing 10 people and injuring several others.

"It's probably one of the better tools in state legislation anywhere in the country," Mike Right, a spokesman for AAA said of Missouri's law. In fact, it's kind of the model for many states to follow."

Despite being a blueprint for the country, though, Right hasn't seen any report on whether the legislature has been effective.

"In fact, we tried to get that some time ago, but we got shut down," Right said. "They initially said it was too early in the game."

Right believes that the law needs more publicity. So does the Department of Revenue.

Officials there want to promote the law more, Robinson said, but the agency has no money to do it.

"If it was funded, we would enthusiastically publicize it," she said. "And if AAA wants to give us a grant, hey, we'll do it."