Low-Vision Driving in W.Va.

A simple technology would allow West Virginians with severely impaired vision to drive safely _ if the state would consider granting them special, restricted licenses, advocates for the disabled say.

The Legislature will be asked to allow for such licenses during the regular session that begins Wednesday. Tom Breen, who covers health care issues for The Associated Press, has the details.

"Similar programs have been adopted in 39 other states, and West Virginia was actually the first in the country to try the program as a pilot in the 1980s," Breen reports. "But the program ended in 1998, and attempts to revive it in the Legislature have fallen short in the face of concerns from the Division of Motor Vehicles."

Lawmakers reviewed the issue as part of the ongoing series of interim meetings. The Register-Herald of Beckley has a story as well.