Old Man’s Freedom Revoked Along With Driver’s License

Here are some of the obvious signs of being old and living alone in America:

An empty frying pan sits on the stove. A picture of an old man and his grown son sits atop a bookcase in the corner of the living room. A cane is positioned near the door--a useful friend when one’s gait wobbles.

That’s a view from inside Ralph Caldwell’s world.

Now, here’s a story about a less obvious view of the outside:

Caldwell is 84, a churchgoing Baptist and the son of an Alabama cotton farmer. Down in Texas, where his family migrated and where he was raised, he plowed fields and was driving himself and others to school when he was 14. Learning to drive then wasn’t so much a rite of passage as it was a necessity: the schoolhouse was several miles away.

And so he’s been driving ever since--except that, all of a sudden, he can’t. He’s locked in a bit of a spat with the Department of Motor Vehicles that apparently began over a mailing problem and now has grown to something more. To the department, Caldwell is a number who hasn’t complied with regulations; to Caldwell and his son, the department is chipping away at his connection with society.

Caldwell was in a minor accident two years ago. He wasn’t ticketed and thought it was nice when the investigating officer followed him home. In fact, Caldwell wrote to the officer’s superior, commending his courtesy.

What Caldwell didn’t know was that the officer later filed a form and sent it, as procedure dictates, directly to DMV in Sacramento. That form requires that DMV then notify the driver by mail that he must be retested to prove his worthiness behind the wheel.

The department attempted to notify Caldwell, but because he had moved from Laguna Niguel to the retirement home in Costa Mesa, he says, he never received the notice. As a result, when his license came up for normal renewal last October on his birthday, he found it had been suspended because he hadn’t complied with the order to be retested.

Since then, two attempts to renew his license have failed. Once, Caldwell missed too many questions on the written test. Then, after passing the written test, the examiner wouldn’t let him take the driving test because, according to DMV records, Caldwell’s car didn’t have brake lights or a turn signal.

As of March 8, Caldwell’s license has been revoked.

It seems like a problem that should be resolvable. But Caldwell and his son, Jerry, an Arizona builder who has intervened on his father’s behalf, are angry. The younger Caldwell says his father’s license never should have been suspended in the first place, because it wasn’t his fault his mail wasn’t forwarded. The elder Caldwell says he’s more offended at what a state employee said as he discussed the situation with him.

“He came up to me and said, ‘Your license is revoked, Mr. Caldwell.’ I wish I had a tape to record what he said. . . . He said, ‘Mr. Caldwell, you’re 84 years old, you’re retired, you have no need for a car or a driver’s license.’ ”

That infuriated his son, who says his father has been self-sufficient all his life and as recently as last year still was making a few bucks offering sample food products at grocery stores.

“He still needs auto transportation to get to work and for medical situations,” the younger Caldwell said, talking to me by car phone from Arizona. “But he also can drive. Maybe not at night or on the expressways, but he can drive.

“There’s also the human side of it. It’s a blow to his feelings that all of a sudden, he’s shut off from the world. My dad is an open, gregarious, lovable, friendly Christian man. We’re in a mobile society and what if you or I got our license taken away--that would probably be for a felony--but he’s never done any of these things. He’s driven for 70 years.”

In fact, Caldwell says his father has, as a favor for another man in the retirement home, driven him on errands. “He’s that type of person,” Jerry Caldwell says. “I get emotional about this, because you take this away from him and--I call him on the phone and say how you doing, and he says, ‘I’m just sitting here, I don’t have anyplace to go.’ ”

I asked the elder Caldwell if he’s convinced he can drive safely. “Oh, definitely. I realize I’m 84 years old. I realize I’ve got some limits. If I drive and I get tired or have a reason to stop, I find a station or a restaurant, take a little relief.”

Caldwell has requested a hearing on his license revocation. His son says he will get him a tutor, if need be, to help with the written test. “I thought why not just say he shouldn’t be driving under certain conditions,” the younger Caldwell says. “But at least let him keep his dignity and let him drive, because at that age, that’s about all he’s got left.”

Dana Parsons’ columns appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.