Rockland man, 83, files suit over driving limits

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ROCKLAND – Meredith Dondis is 83, but he still likes to drive to Boston every once in a while.

Because a police officer found him driving the wrong way on a one-way street two years ago, Dondis is fighting what he calls an uphill battle to get the state to lift restrictions placed on his driver’s license.

He is limited to driving within 25 miles of his Rockland home.

Last month, Dondis challenged that limit in Knox County Superior Court. The issue is vital for Dondis, who has had a driver’s license since 1937 and who chafes at the prospect of being curtailed in his movement.

“It’s kind of scary,” Dondis said of the prospect of losing the range of his mobility.

Yet government’s role in restricting or revoking driving privileges for the elderly is bound to get plenty of scrutiny after an 86-year-old man drove into a crowd at a farmers market in Santa Monica, Calif., on Wednesday, killing nine people and hurting 45.

Responding to word of the tragedy in California, Dondis agreed Thursday that elderly drivers have more crashes than those between 30 and 60. But he noted – correctly – that younger drivers have a higher frequency of crashes than the elderly, even though more elderly drivers die as a result.

Dondis, who used to run a movie theater in Rockland, acknowledged he has had problems behind the wheel in recent years. His license was suspended in 2001 after a police officer stopped him as he was driving the wrong way on a one-way street near his home.

“I went through a red light,” Dondis said in an interview. “I was in a hurry.”

An officer’s report noted that Dondis appeared to be confused when stopped.

The state mandated that Dondis take a driving test before it would grant him his license again.

His lawyer, Paul Gibbons, said Thursday that Dondis suffered a heart attack in the spring of 2002, shortly after the suspension.

Dondis took and failed driver tests on May 15, May 29, June 4 and June 20, 2002. Gibbons said Dondis may have taken the tests too soon after his heart attack. When Gibbons took on his case, he suggested Dondis take a course from a Camden driving school to get better prepared.

Gibbons also had Dondis submit to a “psychometric” assessment by Paul Sobchuk, a Rockland psychologist. Dondis scored “above average” on the test, which measures reaction times, according to the appeal document filed in court. Sobchuk found no physical or emotional reason to deny Dondis a license.

“He did well on that,” Gibbons said of the test.

On Nov. 6, 2002, Dondis passed his driver’s test.

An examination by his family physician, Dr. Donald Weaver of Rockland, cleared Dondis to drive. On Nov. 13, 2002, Weaver reported he was “medically qualified for an unrestricted license,” the appeal says.

Next, the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles reviewed the case.

It ruled Dondis should be restricted to driving within 25 miles of his home.

When Dondis challenged that ruling, Linda French, a medical review coordinator for the state, told him the 25-mile restriction “was very generous,” and that “it should not be challenged,” the appeal claims. French also said that the Camden driving school had recommended that Dondis be restricted to within a 25-mile radius of his home.

Joe Wannemacher, the assistant attorney general who represents the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, said Thursday and in a previous interview he wasn’t familiar with details of the appeal, but that the bureau’s decision was “a reasonable one, consistent with their obligations to public safety.”

The state’s medical staff reviews each case, he said.

“It’s not an arbitrary decision by a bureaucrat,” Wannemacher said.

Dondis appealed the 25-mile decision to the local motor vehicle office. After a hearing, the restriction was upheld. So Dondis took his appeal to Superior Court.

Gibbons, his lawyer, argues that without standards, the ruling is arbitrary.

“They don’t have standards by which to do this. They shouldn’t have an unbridled power,” he said. “Licenses are very important to people.”

Both Gibbons and Dondis said they understand that restrictions on elderly drivers are reasonable. If an elderly driver has trouble seeing at night, Gibbons believes, the state has the right to restrict the license.

But Dondis “is a very good driver,” he said. “Those people who can drive should be able to continue to drive.”