13 replies to this topic

[ChrisTop her]

Hello I was trying to get my licesnse back and was asking if it was the a law you have to take driveing courses if you had your license before you got hurt?? I am asking if you live in jersey and know someone with a handicap vehicle if I was able to go with that person and take the road test. Idk if they would let you do that. It's just jersey take forever to drive again. I been trying to get the state to pay for it and finally got the approval. I been doing this process since July 20th and now it's December it's just crazy how hard things are anymore. This past year and 3months has been difficult having a spinal cord injury. I wish I could turn things back to my old life. Being 21 and was going to college I am not living the life I use to live. I miss working hard and driveing was how I made my money it sucks now. Then holidays coming up doesn't make it easier. Sorry for going on and on I am just so frustrated anymore!!!!!

[tsh3406]

Man, that sucks. Here in MO, we don't have that requirement. You just have to demonstrate that you can safely operate the vehicle....

[ChrisTop her]

I wish that's how it was around here

[Speed]

Yeah man, Im not in Jersey but here in NC I had to take a class that was like 6 hours of on road and 3 of in classroom testing before I was allowed to goto the DMV and take their stupid tests again. It sucks, but in reality its worth of minute you have to wait. It took almost a year for the state to get to me on their list of "Driving Tests".

On another note, I know life is different than how it was but dont get to down about it. Be thankful you are still alive!! Im not sure what level injury you have but I want you to know and realize that your mental and emotional strength will pull you through the toughest of physical times. I am only five years post injury and I do more now than I ever would have done before my injury. You just gotta believe that you can do it and stay positive about your life.

Keep Pushing!!!

[Vanessamaee]

I live in Misosuri and they're pretty much the same way. They don't have any "legal" requirements, but yet in order for you to get your handcontrols installed you must go through a driving course with hand controls. I ended up doing 6 hours plus I had a drivers evaluation before my course and after. I then got my hand controls in my car and was said that I will be notified by the state to go retake my drivers test. Well, I havent been notified and its been almost 2 months, so Im still driving with my old license. However I am only 17, I was injured at 16 (and I already had a number of wrecks under my belt) so I can almost guarente when I go to renew my license when I turn 18, I will have to retake my test, but thats still months away. It's a long, slow, painful process and if Jersey is anything like Missouri, no one really knows exactly what theyre doing adn everyone tells you something different. How I looked at it was its just one more hurdel to getting back to being independent and as soon as I got over that hurdle, it felt awesome (: Everything was made so much easier once I could drive myself places. Also, could it be because the state is paying for it that it took so long? Here the state, ad insurance dont pay for any of it, we had to pay for it all out of pocket and it was EXPENSIVE. So the fact that you had to wait for state approval may be what postponed it so long.

[Speed]

Lol, Im still on the state's list of "waiting to have handcontrols installed". I just said f it and bought my own used set of hand controls. Cost $600 for the set and another 200 to have them installed. I have gone through 4 cars since that time and now I do all the installs of my controls. If you are waiting for funding from the state you can bet your butt you will be waiting a very very very long time.

[ChrisTop her]

Yea I know this state is very slow process. But hopefully I can't get goin very soon!!!!

[Ratticis]

Here in order to get hand controls installed in a vehicle you need to have a licence for opperating a vehicle without hand controls, which you can't get without a vehicle with hand controls

[Millard]

ChrisTop her, on 02 December 2011 - 03:19 PM, said:

Hello I was trying to get my licesnse back and was asking if it was the a law you have to take driveing courses if you had your license before you got hurt?? I am asking if you live in jersey and know someone with a handicap vehicle if I was able to go with that person and take the road test. Idk if they would let you do that. It's just jersey take forever to drive again. I been trying to get the state to pay for it and finally got the approval. I been doing this process since July 20th and now it's December it's just crazy how hard things are anymore. This past year and 3months has been difficult having a spinal cord injury. I wish I could turn things back to my old life. Being 21 and was going to college I am not living the life I use to live. I miss working hard and driveing was how I made my money it sucks now. Then holidays coming up doesn't make it easier. Sorry for going on and on I am just so frustrated anymore!!!!!

In Ga., to use or have installed hand controls you have to take the driving course. I have been driving since 1968 as I could use my right foot and leg. As my condition changed, I wanted to drive from my chair and use hand controls. I went through the GDR (Ga. Dept. of Rehabilitation) and they set up everything for me. My auto insurance company required certified training to cover the van and the $22,000 modifications that the GDR installed. I went and took a driving test and easily passed it.

Good luck and wish you all the best.

[tsh3406]

Vanessamaee, on 02 December 2011 - 06:27 PM, said:

I live in Misosuri and they're pretty much the same way. They don't have any "legal" requirements, but yet in order for you to get your handcontrols installed you must go through a driving course with hand controls. I ended up doing 6 hours plus I had a drivers evaluation before my course and after. I then got my hand controls in my car and was said that I will be notified by the state to go retake my drivers test. Well, I havent been notified and its been almost 2 months, so Im still driving with my old license. However I am only 17, I was injured at 16 (and I already had a number of wrecks under my belt) so I can almost guarente when I go to renew my license when I turn 18, I will have to retake my test, but thats still months away. It's a long, slow, painful process and if Jersey is anything like Missouri, no one really knows exactly what theyre doing adn everyone tells you something different. How I looked at it was its just one more hurdel to getting back to being independent and as soon as I got over that hurdle, it felt awesome (: Everything was made so much easier once I could drive myself places. Also, could it be because the state is paying for it that it took so long? Here the state, ad insurance dont pay for any of it, we had to pay for it all out of pocket and it was EXPENSIVE. So the fact that you had to wait for state approval may be what postponed it so long.

That's wild, I didn't realize how much things have changed. I wonder how much of that depends on who you are dealing with and what kind of day they were having. I don't have to do anythiing like that whe I got my DL 15 years ago. Not even the regular driver's ed that most kids do. I had to fight to get one with no restrictions, but if I hadn't chosen to do that, it would have been smooth sailing. Same way in October when I went to renew it. The bureau gave me the card, but a week later, the state sent me a letter wanting me to jump through all these hoops or send it back to get restrictions put in it. I wrote them a long letter back and really, that was that. Still have the unrestricted dl....

Looking back, I think my dad put the hand controls in the car himself and after practicing with them around town for a few weeks, I just drove up and took the test.

[Vanessamaee]

tsh3406, on 04 December 2011 - 04:40 PM, said:

Vanessamaee, on 02 December 2011 - 06:27 PM, said:

I live in Misosuri and they're pretty much the same way. They don't have any "legal" requirements, but yet in order for you to get your handcontrols installed you must go through a driving course with hand controls. I ended up doing 6 hours plus I had a drivers evaluation before my course and after. I then got my hand controls in my car and was said that I will be notified by the state to go retake my drivers test. Well, I havent been notified and its been almost 2 months, so Im still driving with my old license. However I am only 17, I was injured at 16 (and I already had a number of wrecks under my belt) so I can almost guarente when I go to renew my license when I turn 18, I will have to retake my test, but thats still months away. It's a long, slow, painful process and if Jersey is anything like Missouri, no one really knows exactly what theyre doing adn everyone tells you something different. How I looked at it was its just one more hurdel to getting back to being independent and as soon as I got over that hurdle, it felt awesome (: Everything was made so much easier once I could drive myself places. Also, could it be because the state is paying for it that it took so long? Here the state, ad insurance dont pay for any of it, we had to pay for it all out of pocket and it was EXPENSIVE. So the fact that you had to wait for state approval may be what postponed it so long.

That's wild, I didn't realize how much things have changed. I wonder how much of that depends on who you are dealing with and what kind of day they were having. I don't have to do anythiing like that whe I got my DL 15 years ago. Not even the regular driver's ed that most kids do. I had to fight to get one with no restrictions, but if I hadn't chosen to do that, it would have been smooth sailing. Same way in October when I went to renew it. The bureau gave me the card, but a week later, the state sent me a letter wanting me to jump through all these hoops or send it back to get restrictions put in it. I wrote them a long letter back and really, that was that. Still have the unrestricted dl....

Looking back, I think my dad put the hand controls in the car himself and after practicing with them around town for a few weeks, I just drove up and took the test.

Yea I think it just kinda depend on how things lay out. MY rehab center has a driving program, so they told me there was no other way for me to be able to drive again unless I went through it. that $80 an hour plus 2 $475 evaluations. THEN they wrote a "prescription" for handcontrols and I was able to get them installed, however even though it was a prescription, insurance wont cover it. Also ends up they had unnecessary equipment installed into the car due to their prescription that we had to pay for. yay. Then they told me I had to go retake my drivers test. I told them to F off and I was sick of the (the driveing person was a b*tch) and my dad wrote a letter to the state regarding how it is ridicuous for the state to have "no rules: about obtaining hand controls or driing with adaptive equpiment but yet we HAD to go through all of this. Still havent retaken my test, I guess Ill find out in July if I have to. but yea, I think it was all a huge scam thing. They made it sound like we legally had to, and then near the end when it was getting out of hand and they kept adding on classes my dad called the state and asksed and they said theyd never heard of anything like this before. I also know a couple other paras that had to go through the same thing

[tsh3406]

Vanessamaee, on 04 December 2011 - 05:17 PM, said:

tsh3406, on 04 December 2011 - 04:40 PM, said:

Vanessamaee, on 02 December 2011 - 06:27 PM, said:

I live in Misosuri and they're pretty much the same way. They don't have any "legal" requirements, but yet in order for you to get your handcontrols installed you must go through a driving course with hand controls. I ended up doing 6 hours plus I had a drivers evaluation before my course and after. I then got my hand controls in my car and was said that I will be notified by the state to go retake my drivers test. Well, I havent been notified and its been almost 2 months, so Im still driving with my old license. However I am only 17, I was injured at 16 (and I already had a number of wrecks under my belt) so I can almost guarente when I go to renew my license when I turn 18, I will have to retake my test, but thats still months away. It's a long, slow, painful process and if Jersey is anything like Missouri, no one really knows exactly what theyre doing adn everyone tells you something different. How I looked at it was its just one more hurdel to getting back to being independent and as soon as I got over that hurdle, it felt awesome (: Everything was made so much easier once I could drive myself places. Also, could it be because the state is paying for it that it took so long? Here the state, ad insurance dont pay for any of it, we had to pay for it all out of pocket and it was EXPENSIVE. So the fact that you had to wait for state approval may be what postponed it so long.

That's wild, I didn't realize how much things have changed. I wonder how much of that depends on who you are dealing with and what kind of day they were having. I don't have to do anythiing like that whe I got my DL 15 years ago. Not even the regular driver's ed that most kids do. I had to fight to get one with no restrictions, but if I hadn't chosen to do that, it would have been smooth sailing. Same way in October when I went to renew it. The bureau gave me the card, but a week later, the state sent me a letter wanting me to jump through all these hoops or send it back to get restrictions put in it. I wrote them a long letter back and really, that was that. Still have the unrestricted dl....

Looking back, I think my dad put the hand controls in the car himself and after practicing with them around town for a few weeks, I just drove up and took the test.

Yea I think it just kinda depend on how things lay out. MY rehab center has a driving program, so they told me there was no other way for me to be able to drive again unless I went through it. that $80 an hour plus 2 $475 evaluations. THEN they wrote a "prescription" for handcontrols and I was able to get them installed, however even though it was a prescription, insurance wont cover it. Also ends up they had unnecessary equipment installed into the car due to their prescription that we had to pay for. yay. Then they told me I had to go retake my drivers test. I told them to F off and I was sick of the (the driveing person was a b*tch) and my dad wrote a letter to the state regarding how it is ridicuous for the state to have "no rules: about obtaining hand controls or driing with adaptive equpiment but yet we HAD to go through all of this. Still havent retaken my test, I guess Ill find out in July if I have to. but yea, I think it was all a huge scam thing. They made it sound like we legally had to, and then near the end when it was getting out of hand and they kept adding on classes my dad called the state and asksed and they said theyd never heard of anything like this before. I also know a couple other paras that had to go through the same thing

If you did it through a private entity (rehab hostipal), that was without question, 100% a scam. No conversion shop would make you do that. That was just someone bullying you into thinking you had no option. Kinda like the whole service dog thing, legally, there's no way to enforce it if you just say no. Everybody gangs up and claims those are the rules, but it's horseshit....


Chris, make sure it is actually your state's DMV requiring that, and not some private entity trying to rob you. Then buy some hand controls on Ebay or someplace else....

[Vanessamaee]

tsh3406, on 04 December 2011 - 05:57 PM, said:

Vanessamaee, on 04 December 2011 - 05:17 PM, said:

tsh3406, on 04 December 2011 - 04:40 PM, said:

Vanessamaee, on 02 December 2011 - 06:27 PM, said:

I live in Misosuri and they're pretty much the same way. They don't have any "legal" requirements, but yet in order for you to get your handcontrols installed you must go through a driving course with hand controls. I ended up doing 6 hours plus I had a drivers evaluation before my course and after. I then got my hand controls in my car and was said that I will be notified by the state to go retake my drivers test. Well, I havent been notified and its been almost 2 months, so Im still driving with my old license. However I am only 17, I was injured at 16 (and I already had a number of wrecks under my belt) so I can almost guarente when I go to renew my license when I turn 18, I will have to retake my test, but thats still months away. It's a long, slow, painful process and if Jersey is anything like Missouri, no one really knows exactly what theyre doing adn everyone tells you something different. How I looked at it was its just one more hurdel to getting back to being independent and as soon as I got over that hurdle, it felt awesome (: Everything was made so much easier once I could drive myself places. Also, could it be because the state is paying for it that it took so long? Here the state, ad insurance dont pay for any of it, we had to pay for it all out of pocket and it was EXPENSIVE. So the fact that you had to wait for state approval may be what postponed it so long.

That's wild, I didn't realize how much things have changed. I wonder how much of that depends on who you are dealing with and what kind of day they were having. I don't have to do anythiing like that whe I got my DL 15 years ago. Not even the regular driver's ed that most kids do. I had to fight to get one with no restrictions, but if I hadn't chosen to do that, it would have been smooth sailing. Same way in October when I went to renew it. The bureau gave me the card, but a week later, the state sent me a letter wanting me to jump through all these hoops or send it back to get restrictions put in it. I wrote them a long letter back and really, that was that. Still have the unrestricted dl....

Looking back, I think my dad put the hand controls in the car himself and after practicing with them around town for a few weeks, I just drove up and took the test.

Yea I think it just kinda depend on how things lay out. MY rehab center has a driving program, so they told me there was no other way for me to be able to drive again unless I went through it. that $80 an hour plus 2 $475 evaluations. THEN they wrote a "prescription" for handcontrols and I was able to get them installed, however even though it was a prescription, insurance wont cover it. Also ends up they had unnecessary equipment installed into the car due to their prescription that we had to pay for. yay. Then they told me I had to go retake my drivers test. I told them to F off and I was sick of the (the driveing person was a b*tch) and my dad wrote a letter to the state regarding how it is ridicuous for the state to have "no rules: about obtaining hand controls or driing with adaptive equpiment but yet we HAD to go through all of this. Still havent retaken my test, I guess Ill find out in July if I have to. but yea, I think it was all a huge scam thing. They made it sound like we legally had to, and then near the end when it was getting out of hand and they kept adding on classes my dad called the state and asksed and they said theyd never heard of anything like this before. I also know a couple other paras that had to go through the same thing

If you did it through a private entity (rehab hostipal), that was without question, 100% a scam. No conversion shop would make you do that. That was just someone bullying you into thinking you had no option. Kinda like the whole service dog thing, legally, there's no way to enforce it if you just say no. Everybody gangs up and claims those are the rules, but it's horseshit....


Chris, make sure it is actually your state's DMV requiring that, and not some private entity trying to rob you. Then buy some hand controls on Ebay or someplace else....

I'm slowly learning this. What pissed me off even more was the only place within 2 hours of where I live that does conversions was owned by the driving program as well. So they wouldnt even touch your car until they recieved a "prescription". Yup. my dad was NOT happy. The state was definatly notified and I guess they've been looking into it. We'll see what happens, probably nothing spectacular.

[ChrisTop her]

I see that every states different with the rules.