Very Sneaky MD Cdl vision test.
 

Went down to the Maryland DMV today to get my permit. been studying up for my permit tests and got 90s on a few practice test I took before i went to the dmv. Sit and wait 35 minutes to have my number called. My number gets called and I go to the station the lady tells me to look in and read line 4. I do that no problem, then the vision field test pass that no problem. Then she puts up these colored circles that are red green and yellow and she tells me to read the numbers inside. I identified the colors fine. Was only able to depict one of numbers and she tells me i failed the vision test. I thought it was unfair because the the way the numbers were printed was like an optical illusion where you need to focus your eyes for a few minutes and try to deciper the picture. so now even though i identified the colors correctly she tells me I have failed the vision and that i need to go home and bring in my dot long showing that they did and I passed a color test.

She also told me she cant just ask what color is this on a brochure of a wall. so now I wasted 40 minutes of my life at the dmv and gas to and from for nothing now i am going back friday.

They try to comfort you telling you 70% of men don pass that test and need to have their long form in order to verify it. Hello if 70% are failing then maybe the test needs to be changed.

Any thoughts??

I have to side with the DMV.

If there are vision issues, then I'm not sure where you can be upset with them for failing you on it. You said it takes a few minutes for your eyes to focus? That seems like a problem, I would think.

I recently re-upped my regular icense in the fall...I took the same type of vision test. Letters, colors, flashes, numbers in colors, the whole shebang. Granted, you have to be able to focus your eyes fairly quickly on the test, but if you're guiding an 80,000 pound piece of loaded machinery down the road with me next to you, I wouldn't want it taking you several minutes to focus on something.

Just my $.02.

i took the same test. i passed. you have vision issues.

They are testing for color blindness, particularly red/green colors.
I guess you can figure why that would be important.
Some people can not actually distinguish between the two colors, very easily.

Here is a couple test examples.
http://colorvisiontesting.com/

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...pages/9962.htm

i dont have color vision issue i recited the colors correctly but because i couldnt see the numbers thats why i failed. she told me i identifed the colors correctly. i can identify most any color.

yeah i wear glasses but have never failed a dmv vision screen til today.
i just renewed my regular license in feb.

I have my dot long which says I can distinguish between colors and all. They told me bring it in and I will pass on to the knowledge tests.

i can see far away just fine.

Yes, you do have color vision issues, otherwise you would've passed the test. They were indeed testing for color blindness, and you failed due to your apparent inability to differentiate some of the colors. Failing one portion of the vision test means you failed the entire test. Color
blindness tests are totally different than being able to tell the difference between red and green, or yellow and purple, etc. They are designed that way for a purpose.

However, if you can still distinguish the red / yellow / green colors by themselves, which is what the long form should state, then you will be OK as far as the DMV is concerned.

If you can't see the numbers, then you have trouble distinguishing between the 2 colors.

seriously though if 70% of men are having a problem passing this test then it needs to be changed.

papa, you may have heard the figure wrong. It is 7%.... not 70%.

Still as this article states, 7% is around 10 million men.
http://www.hhmi.org/senses/b130.html

Women have less trouble with color blindness.
I guess they can tell a clear diamond from a yellow one... dang it. :lol:

Not sure where you are in the state, but the further from the I95 corridor you get, the more slack you get at the MVA.

Color differentiation is somewhat moot, as all horizontal lights have the same order, as do vertical lights.

I have a buddy who is that way. You can flash him about any color and he has no problem seeing it, but if you place two colors together, other than black and white, and he says that one color just runs into another.

He tells me where this causes him the most problems is reading road signs, especially at night, and items like menus.

for me when you put 2 colors together no matter what color i can see both and i dont have a problem reading a menu either.

I went to the belair MVA office it used to be one of the best to go to, but they are getting lazy and starting to be a pain. They said i will pass with my long form so thats not an issue. maybe I should have taken the long form with me all the state website said was bring your medical card.

i just think that the test is a tad unfair.

I didnt say it took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to everything. Just for that "wheres waldo test" ,I passed everything else on the vision test so my vision aint that bad.


I also read off all colors perfectly at my dot physical.

Here is what you do. Make an appointment with your eye doctor and have him examine you for color blindness and similar issues. When you pass take that down to the DMV.

Big papa, Getting a cdl and cdl permit is a journey. If there are any medical issues they make you go through hoops to get it. I went to my dmv waited 1hr got to front, needed to go to social secutity because I laminated my card 16yrs ago in the military.(not valid) went came back hr later waited 10 min. I handed in application to be told I needed to goto my dr's and have a physical because I checked the high bp box and diabetes. I then had to goto dor's, mail form & letter,wait a 2wks to get letter back from operator control. Get letter bring back to dmv then ok'd to take test. yes it sucks but we need to meet fmcsa. I proved it been doing dot for last 7yrs. I did what needed to be done. I have my permit plus tanker endorsment and I'm now in school and couldnt be happier. Get what they need, get that permit and get to school,millis,cfi,ATS usx and get the process started. You will be soooo happy. Best of luck Bud and PM me on the other site if you need more info about schools to get into.

thanks for the advice uturn but i am gonna take the dot form with me to dmv form first, before I go spending money on an eye exam.

Big papa, Getting a cdl and cdl permit is a journey. If there are any medical issues they make you go through hoops to get it. I went to my dmv waited 1hr got to front, needed to go to social secutity because I laminated my card 16yrs ago in the military.(not valid) went, came back hr later waited 10 min. I handed in application to be told I needed to goto my dr's and have a physical because I checked the high bp box and diabetes. I then had to goto dr's, mail form & letter,wait a 2wks to get letter back from operator control. Get letter bring back to dmv then ok'd to take test. yes it sucks but we need to meet fmcsa. I proved it been doing dot for last 7yrs. I did what needed to be done. I have my permit plus tanker endorsment and I'm now in school and couldnt be happier. Get what they need, get that permit and get to school,millis,cfi,ATS usx and get the process started. You will be soooo happy. Best of luck Bud and PM me on the other site if you need more info about schools to get into.

bigdaddy thanks for the encouragement. i'll keep ya updated i wont be able to pm you on the other site til i have 50 posts which i dont have there yet.

Bigpappa,

Go and get yourself an eye exam. I know that money may be tight right now, but it will save you a lot of trouble later on. If you get out on the road and misread a sign or a signal, you could kill yourself or someone else.

There is a company called America's Best Contacts that offers 2 pairs of glasses or contacts including a free exam from $69.95. Their website is
www.twopair.com

Belair Edison Crossing
2401 Belair Road
Suite 104
Baltimore, MD 21213
Phone: 410-534-5530

Plus, even if you do get the MVA to accept your long physical form, many companies will give you another physical by their doctors once you get to orientation. If you fail that physical, you will be sent back home.

i havent missed a road sign or signal in 10 years of driving.

Your like me then.
I was brought up to not believe everything I read, and only half of what I see. :? :P

i recently had an eye exam in june. eyes are fine had dot physical 2 weeks ago and I am going to Millis i was required to get my physical on my own before going to school.
Ive told you guys i can distinguish colors fine even when you put a few together why do you keep thinking im totally color blind and only see black and white?

And if I couldnt make out what colors were what at my dot physical then why would I have recieved a DOT physical card and Long form signed by a doctor thats good for 2 years?

Color blindness does not indicate that you only see black and white, that's a pretty asinine assumption. You can distinguish "straight" green or red, we've established that.

However, most people with poor color vision can't distinguish between certain shades of red and green. Less commonly, people with poor color vision can't distinguish between shades of blue and yellow.

Try some of these and see how well you do:
http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/Ishihara.html
http://home.sc.rr.com/mikebennett/co...nd.html#Plate1
http://www.opticien-lentilles.com/da..._daltonien.php

Maybe you never knew you were color blind and the test at the DMV was able to determine that you are.

No one has been saying you are 100% color blind. You are accusing us of not listening to you, but it would appear that you are not listening or are misunderstanding what we are telling you.

Many, many of us have taken the color test where they use the numbers in dots thing, and we have all passed without a problem. The fact that you were unable to pass such a test says there is a problem somewhere, and any medical issue at all needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Also just because you did not have to do the number/dot test this time for your physical does not mean you will never face it. If you stay working as a driver sooner or later you will run into it again, and there is also talk coming out of Washington of making that test standard.

The first 3 companies I worked for I only had to do the basic red/yellow/green bit. The last several had me do the dot/number bit.

i did pretty well with those tests only missed the one circle on the one with 56. the 31 questioner i only missed 3 total its not as bad as everone thinks.



someone please lock this thread and delete the more i read it the more i get discouraged.

No one on here is trying to discourage you or kill your dream of becoming a trucker. We just want to make sure that you are safe and healthy. You will go through many physicals in this business, so it is not just a one time thing of getting the approval from the MVA and you are good to go for the next 2 years. Every time you change jobs, you will probally have to take another physical.

Best of Luck to You

bigpapa, I never thought I would ever need glasses. Today, I wear them because I recognized that I had a vision problem and got it taken care of. When I got my CDL, I did it without glasses and barely passed the vision test. I can see colors fine, it was the street signs that I oculd not read until I was right on top of them. Got an eye exam done the following week and found out my eyes are not the proper shape(they were oval or egg shaped or something) which was causing me to not be able to read the road signs(the letters where all jumbled together) because the light wasn't filtering to the back properly. Bunch of medical stuff but the gist is, my next DMV test plus physical 2 years later, I tried without my glasses and with. I kept my CDL and realized I still need glasses. MD is not doing this to you on purpose, you need to have proper vision to be driving anything in my opinion. So you need time for your eyes to focus, same here, but mine focus quicker by just blinking them, that and I stalled a hair by asking the lady what I was looking for again. :twisted: For everyone's safety, we don't want a driver going down the road who has trouble focusing their eyes in quickly.

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ckwork_big.jpg

We are working on an eye drop that may help.
We do need more volunteers though, to complete the tests.

If anyone fails to "see" the humor, we have no cure for that. :?

Bigpapa, you are NOT color blind. You are color deficient. I'm serious on that. I have never been able to pass that stupid circle book going back to elementary school. Someone said here that Washington is talking about making that the standard. Nothing could be further from the truth. That test is actually been criticized as inaccurately failing people who could otherwise see regular colors just fine and more state DMV's are going to the standard red, green and yellow color test. That's all they do here in Texas too. For years most police, fire and EMS agencies used the circle dot test and failed a lot of candidates for jobs. Now, most require that you can tell your basic colors, such as black, brown, green, yellow, etc.

Don't sweat it. Just take your long form in and you'll be fine. Good luck.

I had one of my best students fail the color blindness test after training and passing the CDL skills test. It pretty strange to me that you CAN have a regular driver's license with color blindness... but somehow sitting a few feet higher in a truck will render you a danger to the motoring public. This guy was a fantastic (student) driver and never even so much as cut a light close. And of course the State of Wisconsin does not "do" waivers of any kind for anything... (or they didn't at that time).

He had to go to his company in Iowa (we called on his behalf) and they just tested him out down there, in their truck, at their DMV with a vision waiver for IA. Passed the CDL test (again) in that state..

That almost looks like the clamps they used in my Lasik eye surgery. Then the smell of burning skin to reshape my eye. Freaky but I would do it again.

The red green and yellow circles the DMV clerk was showing you were not just colored circles to see if you could differentiate between the colors. In each of those were a series of dots of different colors that make numbers when you can see them clearly. If you could not see the numbers, you should have and did fail. This isn't the fault of DMV at all, you didn't pass so quit whining and jump through whatever hoops you need to get it done. You are lucky they will accept the long form and give you a pass on that.

lol i'm color blind and i don't see in black and white. usally when you are color blind it only effects certain shades of a color. my colors are red and blue. I used to paint and now I'm a good photographer. but certain colors look close or the same. ever had someone tell you a shirt you thought was blue was really purple? being color blind doesn't mean you don't see the colors. fyi you can thank your mother. she carried the gene but it almost always only effects men.

when I got my physical for my card I flat out told them I was color blind (been failing the color number test since grade school) they just gave me a different test that checks for the color of stop lights.

on the test you took their was probably three circles of colors
the one on the left checks for yellow the one in the middle checks for red and the one on the right checks for blue.

if your like me you probably saw the number in the left circle kinda saw the the one in the middle and couldnt see anything on the right. lol means you blue and red are your problems. you can see red you can see blue but your eyes have a hard time telling the diffrence. and it will only affect you with certain shades of blue and red.


[quote="bigpapa7272"]i recently had an eye exam in june. eyes are fine had dot physical 2 weeks ago and I am going to Millis i was required to get my physical on my own before going to school.
Ive told you guys i can distinguish colors fine even when you put a few together why do you keep thinking im totally color blind and only see black and white?

And if I couldnt make out what colors were what at my dot physical then why would I have recieved a DOT physical card and Long form signed by a doctor thats good for 2 years?[/quot]