Transportation and Vehicle Safety: driving with injured arm, traffic citation, dmv test

Question
I recently broke my right arm while skating. The doctor has placed the arm in a cast. When I asked him if I can drive, he told me that I can if I am comfortable with it. Since the injury, I have driven and I had no trouble controling the vehicle.

However, will my medical condition affect the status of my driver's license. In other words, is it legal for me to drive in California? what happens if i get pulled over by an law officer or get in an accident? (i have yet to check with my insurance company, but i believe my insurance isn't affected.)


Thank you very much in advance.

Answer
Hi Jennifer..

California law does not require that you have full use of all your body parts in order to drive. The only requirement is that by using whatever means necessary to overcome your limitation, it is safe for you and those whom you share the roadway with.

Take for example a paraplegic whose legs are unable to function properly and uses alternate controls operated by hand, or people with only one limb who drive successfully. Those with permanent major disabilities must get a waiver from their doctor and pass a physical driving test with a DMV examiner.

As your disability is temporary and only affects a single arm (minor disability), you do not need a doctors waiver or a DMV test drive. It will in no way affect your drivers license, and will not be a basis for a traffic citation in and of itself.

If you become involved in an accident, and the other party can medically show that your disability was a direct causal factor for the accident, then the argument can be made that by operating a motor vehicle, you intentionally placed others in harms way and could be found civilly liable. This is a bit of a stretch though, and based on your particular injury, I would not worry about it as long as you're comfortable driving with the injury, capable of driving safely, and that you are driving with an automatic transmission!

Please let me know if I have answered your question fully Jennifer, and thanks for contacting AllExperts.

Terry