The State - News from Jan. 2, 1985

Some diabetics may be granted licenses to drive trucks and buses, a state Court of Appeal has ruled in rejecting arguments from the Department of Motor Vehicles. Of the DMV regulations that banned anyone with insulin-controlled diabetes from holding such a license, Judge Betty Barry-Deal wrote: “We do not read the (Motor Vehicle) Code provision so narrowly.” The decision will reinstate the license of Kent Eric Smith, an Orinda-Moraga trash collector, who was diagnosed as suffering from diabetic retinopathy, which has made him blind in one eye. Smith has been driving for 20 years and has had three minor traffic accidents and one speeding ticket. The court decision means that the DMV now has the discretion to issue licenses to applicants who have overcome medical problems.