Cuomo halts policy to bypass DMV eye exam

ALBANY -- After a backlash, the Cuomo administration is putting on hold a new policy that would have allowed New Yorkers to bypass an eye exam when renewing a driver's license.

The administration initially sought the change to streamline the license renewal process, either online or by mail. But it drew immediate condemnation from traffic-safety advocates, physicians and politicians.

Now, the policy is on hold until the administration can consult with the medical community, said a Cuomo official Friday who asked not to be named. The administration wants to come up with a way for a driver to submit an "independent affirmation" that he or she passed an eye exam before renewing a license. Officials could not say how long the policy would be on hold.

A critic of the policy said his office received "plenty of phone calls" when it became public.

"It made no sense whatsoever," said Assemb. Philip Boyle (R-Bay Shore), a former emergency medical technician.

Boyle applauded the change in direction. "I think independent affirmation is very important," he said.

New York eliminated the eye-exam requirement once before, between 1993 and 2000, and officials said there was no significant increase in car crashes as a result. It was reinstated at the recommendation of an advisory board of medical and consumer advocates.

DMV announced earlier this week it would once again remove the eye-exam requirement, noting that 14 other states, including Connecticut and Pennsylvania, either allow self-certification or do not require vision testing.

Reaction was swift and hostile. AAA and the New York State Ophthalmological Society promised to fight for reinstatement of the eye exam. And one state senator vowed to introduce legislation requiring it.

Dr. Ira Udell, incoming president of the ophthalmological society, believes New York has dodged a bullet. "Most likely no damage has been done by this short-lived exercise and hopefully nobody has been hurt by it," said Udell, chief of ophthalmology at the North Shore University-Long Island Jewish Health System.

Udell is calling for a task force of medical professionals to look into the DMV's other controversial rule that now goes back into force -- the eight-year interval between state-required eye exams.

With Delthia Ricks