Reporting a bad driver in Kansas

Kansas bad driver reporting & safety guide

1. If it is happening now immediate danger

Emergency hotlines

• 911 — for a driver who is an active danger to other people right now. That is a police matter, and no app is a substitute for the call.
• *47 — Kansas Highway Patrol. Highway patrol line for dangerous driving as it happens.

It reaches a dispatcher who may send a trooper to a driver still on the road — use it while the driving is happening, and 911 for an immediate danger. The Patrol's own wording is 'Call *47 to report an immediate problem, such as an erratic driver on a Kansas highway'; on the Kansas Turnpike it publishes *KTA (*582) for the same purpose, and 911 for an emergency.

2. Reporting to Kansas law enforcement after the fact

Neither the hotlines above nor anything in this section is the licence-review route in section 3, and nothing filed on Jerk Alert reaches any of them.

Who takes the report in Kansas

• The non-emergency line of the Kansas municipal police department or county sheriff’s office with jurisdiction where it happened takes reports of dangerous driving that has already happened.
• Bring: the plate (full or partial) and state, the vehicle’s make, model and colour, the location, the date and time, the direction of travel, and what you saw.
• Expect a record rather than a ticket. An officer who did not witness the driving usually cannot cite for it, and what each agency acts on varies.

3. State DMV & licensing agency review

Administrative fitness process

Agency

Kansas Department of Revenue, Division of Vehicles

Unit

Medical/Vision Unit

Form

Letter of Concern (online submission form; no form number)

Where to send

Medical/Vision Unit, Division of Vehicles, 300 SW 29th St, PO Box 2188, Topeka KS 66601-2188

Contact

785-368-8971, Mon-Fri 8:00am-4:00pm excluding holidays · fax 785-296-5857 · KDOR_Medical.VisionUnit@ks.gov

What information do I need to report a driver?

• The Division publishes an online Letter of Concern form and links it from its Medical/Vision Review page. Its own instruction: 'This form may be used to request an evaluation of a Kansas driver when a medical, mental health and/or vision condition(s) is indicated/suspected. You must complete all fields and choose which issues you believe may affect the driver's ability to safely operate a motor vehicle.'
• A 'Letter of Concern' must specifically state an issue regarding the driver's ability to safely operate a motor vehicle, include the driver's name and date of birth or Kansas Driver's License number, and be signed by the person writing the letter.
• The online form's fields are the driver's first, middle and last name, date of birth, driver's licence number, vehicle tag number and street address; at least one condition from its medical, physical and mental table (vision, neurological diagnosis, difficulty walking, blackout/seizure/syncope event, confused or disoriented, weakness or coordination problems, or other); a tick-list of driving behaviour you observed; a description you must write yourself of the conditions or actions that led you to ask for an evaluation; how you know the driver; and your own name and email address.
• A provider who ticks the box saying a patient should no longer be driving is warned on the form that doing so will result in the revocation of that patient's licence. That box belongs to the driver's own clinician, not to a member of the public.

Will the driver find out who reported them?

The Division says 'Letters of Concern' from all sources are kept confidential, and the online Letter of Concern form tells you 'The information you provide will be kept confidential.' It cannot be anonymous: a letter must be signed by the person writing it, and the online form requires your name and email address. Nothing the Division publishes says whether the driver is told who filed, or whether what you wrote is shown to the driver at the administrative hearing they may request.

What can the Kansas Department of Revenue, Division of Vehicles do after a report?

• After receiving the 'Letter of Concern' the office takes appropriate action: it sends the driver a letter and forms, and the forms must be submitted within 30 days. The medical and vision forms must be completed by a physician familiar with the driver's history; an exam within the last 90 days may be used.
• If the driver is cleared by both doctors, the Division requires a drive test at a full-service Driver's License Exam Station with an Examiner. Pass on the first attempt and the licence continues; if not, there are three further attempts where it is deemed safe to continue testing, and four failures mean revocation for six months, after which new medical and vision exams are required.
• The Medical/Vision Unit revokes driving privileges where the required forms are not submitted or are incomplete; where the forms indicate the driver is no longer 'a safe candidate to operate a motor vehicle', is not reliable in taking medication, or has a condition that is not well controlled; for failure to take or pass a drive test; or after a loss or alteration of consciousness within the last six months.
• Depending on the illness, the driver may have restrictions placed on their driving privileges — the unit's own examples are Daylight Hours Only and Within City Limits — an adaptation to the vehicle such as a Mechanical Aid, or a required Driving Rehabilitation Assessment with a provider of their choosing.
• A driving rehabilitation assessment reports the driver's reaction time, divided attention, motor skills and drive-test results. Simulator testing is not accepted as a drive test, and the driver's physician must first provide a script authorising the testing.
• Certain medical and vision conditions require a review by the Kansas Medical Advisory Board; with an intellectual disability, traumatic brain injury or stroke diagnosis the Board also requires additional vision testing. The Board assists the Director of Vehicles and the Medical/Vision Unit in interpreting conflicting information and formulating action on specialists' recommendations, and helps determine driving eligibility in complicated cases.
• A revoked driver has 30 days from the date of revocation to request an administrative hearing. The request must be written and signed and sent to the unit's fax or PO Box; at the hearing the driver must present an acceptable medical or vision report, and the Hearing Officer's recommendation goes back to the Medical/Vision Unit, which may send the case to the Medical Advisory Board or to the Director of Vehicles.
• A driver may voluntarily surrender their licence and apply for a Kansas identification card at a Driver's License Exam Office, and is then not eligible to reapply for driving privileges for 90 days from the date of surrender.

Statutory authority: The Division of Vehicles lists the statutes applicable to a medical or vision review as K.S.A. 8-255 (restriction, suspension or revocation of driving privileges — grounds and procedure), K.S.A. 8-247 (reexamination and additional examinations), K.S.A. 8-237 (persons to whom a licence is not issued), K.S.A. 8-245 (restrictions on licensees), K.S.A. 8-295 (vision standards) and K.S.A. 45-221 (certain records not required to be open), with Kansas Regulation 92-52-12 (standards for vision examinations).

What this route can and cannot do

Kansas's online Letter of Concern does have a Vehicle Tag Number field — but it tells you to complete all fields, and those include the driver's full name, date of birth, licence number and street address, so a plate on its own is not enough. It is also a fitness-to-drive route: you have to name a medical, physical or mental condition you believe affects the driver, and what follows is medical and vision forms and a drive test, not a penalty for the driving you saw.

Do doctors have to report?

Kansas is not a mandatory-reporting state. Information is accepted and reviewed from all the sources above rather than required from clinicians.