Bill to require Kentucky drivers to pass a vision screening exam at each driver's license renewal nears the legislative finish line

Update 4/9/2021: This story has been revised to reflect that when this law goes into effect July 2024, all drivers license and any vision testing requirements will be done through the Kentucky Department of Transportation, and not the circuit court clerks. 

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

Kentucky is close to becoming the 43rd state to require drivers to have a vision screening every time they renew their license. The rule is in a House bill that has passed the Senate is back in the House for consideration of changes made to it in the Senate.

Photo: Depisteo

“House Bill 439 is a commonsense piece of legislation that will save lives by ensuring drivers on Kentucky roadways have the necessary visual acuity to operate a vehicle," Senate Republican Caucus Chair Julie Raque Adams of Louisville told the Senate. “Kentucky only requires a screening when you get your license the first time, even though studies show that visual acuity declines with age.”

If the bill becomes law, its effect would be delayed until July 2024 to allow circuit court clerks, who issue licenses, the Department of Transportation,  time to prepare for it.

Kentuckians would continue to have the choice of renewing their license every four or eight years, and a vision screening test would be required at each renewal. Drivers would have the choice of getting their screening at the renewal office or by a medical provider. Anyone who failed the screening would be referred to a vision specialist for further evaluation. The visual acuity standard in Kentucky is 20/40 or better. 

“It is time for us to join the 42 other states and protect Kentuckians and our roadways,” Adams said. “House Bill 439 does that and makes it convenient for the driver at renewal.”

Adams said HB 439 was supported by ophthalmologists, optometrists, nurse practitioners, transportation officials, state police, the Kentucky Medical Association and the American Automobile Association. She added that AARP didn’t oppose the bill because it does not target older drivers.

Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, said that as a daughter of an optometrist, she was voting for HB 439,  but also shared some concerns. 

"I'm going to vote yes and hold my nose on this bill," she said. “This just to me comes across as another layer of bureaucracy and maybe even prompted by insurance companies, and it's going to be a hardship. There are open-ended fees and administrative allowances that I think we just have to . . . continue to monitor this program and make sure there's valid avenues for appeals." 

Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester, noted that it had taken seven to eight years to get all of the stakeholders to agree upon the same language for the bill.

“If you are on the road having trouble reading signs, please get those exams done prior to 2024,” said Alvarado, a physician. 

When HB 439 passed out of the House on Feb. 25, on a 89-5 vote, sponsor Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, said the state Transportation Cabinet has said it expects any increase in fees to be "nominal" and will largely be used to cover the cost of equipment. 

Citing several studies, Moser said every state that has implemented a vision screening requirement has seen a reduction in crash-related deaths and hospitalizations.  

The bill passed the Senate 31-4 on March 12 with a committee substitute that clarifies which applicants get a vision test administered by the cabinet or the State Police. If the House approves the changes, the bill would go to Gov. Andy Beshear. If not, the Senate would have to drop the change or send the bill to a House-Senate conference committee. 

Several Kentucky school districts are requiring students who drive to school to pass a drug test; Hardin County is the latest

Image: commons.wikimedia.org

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Hardin County has joined a growing number of Kentucky school districts that require student drivers, and those who participate in athletics, to submit to random drug testing, Anna Taylor reports for the News-Enterprise in Elizabethtown.

“We have traditionally done random drug testing with our athletes; however, it is a privilege to provide transportation services to our students,” Supt. Nan­nette Johnston told Taylor. “For the safety of our students that are driving and all students and everyone else on the road, we want to make sure they are safe as well. They will submit to the same random drug testing that happens with our athletes.”

The policy was recently adopted by the county school board and is slated to take affect in August at North Hardin, Central Hardin and John Hardin high schools. It says that if a student fails a urine test, driving privileges on school property will be suspended for 12 weeks and their parents will be notified. They will be tested again after the 12 weeks; they can regain their driving privileges, or, if they have a second offense, their privileges will be suspended for the rest of the school year. Refusal to cooperate results in suspension for the year.

“We want to make sure they haven’t been using and they don’t have anything in their vehicles that’s tempting them or other students,” Johnston said. “When they choose to be like an adult, they’re going to be treated like an adult.”

A quick internet search found that drug-testing student drivers, along with student athletes, seems to have become a trend across the state, with Whitley, Mercer, Hancock, and Bell counties all popping up with similar policies.

Private schools in Kentucky have also adopted the policy. Trinity High School in Louisville began its random drug and alcohol screening this year, but its policy includes all students, not just drivers Toni Konz reported for WDRB-TV. Covington Catholic High School will do random drug testing, including student drivers, next year, Desire Thompson reported for VIBE.

Last year, Andrew Wolfson of The Courier-Journal did an in-depth story about the legalities of random drug testing in schools, reporting that while the U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on whether public schools could do random drug screenings on all students, it is not likely to approve such a rule.

In an updated statement in March 2015, the American Academy of Pediatrics said it did not support such policies. It said that while it supports the efforts to identify and address student substance abuse, tests can have false positive results, and such policies erode the student-school relationship and create issues about confidentiality of students' medical records.

Most Kentuckians in favor of banning cell phone use while driving

Though three of four Kentuckians admit to talking on the phone while driving, just as many would support a law banning cell phone use while operating a vehicle, the Kentucky Health Issues Poll has found.

"Although most Kentucky adults use their cell phones while driving, interestingly, they seem to recognize that this isn't a safe behavior," said Dr. Susan Zepeda, CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, which co-sponsored the poll. "Research has shown that drivers who are talking on a cell phone perform similarly to drivers who are legally drunk."

The poll found that more than 80 percent of Kentucky adults have a cell phone. Nearly 30 percent said they never use their cell phone when behind the wheel; 25 percent said they almost never do; 30 percent said they occasionally talk on the phone while driving; 10 percent said they talk on the phone almost every time they're in the car and 6 percent said they make calls every time.

While they do use their cell phones to talk, 8 out of 10 Kentucky adults do not text while driving, which is banned in Kentucky. Just 1 in 7 Kentucky adults said they occasionally or rarely use their cell phone to text or write emails when driving. Another 2 percent said they text every time they drive.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has identified texting as the most alarming road distraction and attributed 5,500 deaths on American roads to distracted driving in 2009. About 200 of those deaths happened on Kentucky roads.

The poll, conducted annually by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati, is jointly funded by the foundation and The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati. Its statewide sample of 1,677 results in a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points; regional samples are smaller and have higher error margins, around 5 percentage points. The foundation is the principal funder of Kentucky Health News. Other poll results can be found by clicking here.