Adaptive Trainers and Third Party Testers
Adaptive trainers
Adaptive driver training serves students whose disability requires modified controls or specialized instruction. The instructor must hold the appropriate DMV authorization for adaptive training and use a vehicle equipped and inspected for the student’s needs. The trainer assesses the student, documents the adaptive equipment, and coordinates with DMV medical and vision review. Training may lead to a license restriction such as hand controls, a left-foot accelerator, or a spinner knob. An instructor without adaptive certification must not substitute a standard vehicle for adaptive instruction.
Third party testers
DMV may authorize licensed driving schools as third party testers to administer specified behind-the-wheel tests. Testers must use approved routes, vehicles, examiners, and DMV forms; protect test materials; report results promptly; and apply the same scoring standards as DMV. They cannot test relatives or students in a conflict-of-interest situation, and they cannot guarantee a passing result.
Worked example
A third party tester receives a student who uses hand controls. The student arrives in an adaptive van, but the tester’s approved vehicle is a standard sedan. The tester must not administer the test in the standard car. The adaptive equipment and the tester’s authorization are conditions of a valid test; the student should be referred to DMV or an approved adaptive vehicle.
Traps
Treating third-party testing as easier than DMV testing; testing in an unapproved vehicle; failing to report a failed result; using an uncertified adaptive instructor; ignoring equipment restrictions on the license.