Police Take Driver's License from Man, 78, in Accident

After a 78-year-old Darien man was involved in an accident that injured a passenger in his car, police temporarily took away his driver's license.

Darien police gave this account (an accusation not proven in court) of the incident:

The female passenger involved in the accident said she had pain in her neck, back and right wrist. She was taken to a hospital by Darien Emergency Medical Services-Post 53.

At 5:09 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 2, police were called to the scene of a vehicle accident in which a 2012 Honda Civic left the roadway and hit a utility pole on Middlesex Road, just south of Hanson Road. The front bumper and both fenders were damaged.

The man, who lives in downtown Darien, told police he thought he may have fallen asleep at the wheel before his vehicle drifted off the roadway and hit the pole on the right shoulder.

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See also: "Who Decides When Pop Gives up the Car Keys?"

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Police noted that there didn't appear to be any adverse road conditions that might have contributed to the accident.

In these circumstances, according to Capt. Donald Anderson, a Darien Police Department spokesman, police have discretion in determining if a driver is not safe enough to drive without further tests.

To get one's driver's license back after it's been confiscated, a driver needs to see a doctor, often an eye doctor or neurologist, who will administer fitness tests to certify that the person is in good enough physical shape to drive.

"If you get in a collision and can't tell us what happened, you're not always going to have your license taken for retesting, but a lot of the time you will," Anderson said.