These resources provide safe driving information for seniors, explain how driving assessments are done, and will help you find a driving rehabilitation specialist or driving safety course in California. Our Nationwide Driving Resources page provides more information on these same topics in addition to transportation options after driving retirement.
Find information on how Parkinson's affects driving, tips to help you discuss with a loved one that it may be time for them to stop driving, and how MDs assess a person's ability to drive safety on our Driving and PD page.
Driving with PD in California
Driving in California and Parkinson's Disease
Published by Stanford APDA Information & Referral Center, September 11, 2025
In this one-hour webinar, Stanford occupational therapist Alyssa Nolff explains how Parkinson's disease affects driving safety and covers California DMV requirements for medical condition disclosure. She details Stanford's clinical driving assessment program and discusses options for vehicle modifications or driving retirement when safety becomes a concern.
California DMV Resources
Anonymously Request Driver Re-examination with California DMV
Published by California Department of Motor Vehicles
There are times that the driver must be stopped from driving for his own or others’ safety. Anyone can make an anonymous report to California's DMV, using form DS 699.
DMV Senior Guide for Safe Driving
Published by California Department of Motor Vehicles, 2017
An 84-page booklet on how changes due to aging, or cognitive impairment (and impairment caused by Parkinson's Disease) can negatively affect one's ability to drive safely. Learn about assessing your driving, making adjustments, the re-examination process, when to stop driving, and what to do when you are concerned about another person's driving.
Safe Driving Courses
Age Well Drive Smart
California Highway Patrol (CHP) offers a free, three-hour senior driver safety/mobility classes to educate drivers over 65. Some local CHP offices are offering a one-hour online version through city senior centers and park and recreation departments. To find out if your local CHP office has an upcoming class use the "Find an Office" search function on the CHP's website. When you call your local CHP office, ask if there is an "Age Well Drive Smart" class offered in your area.
California AAA Online Roadwise Driver Course
The course is designed to hone your driving skills, introduce new vehicle technology, and offer driving tips to be a better, safer driver. AAA offers the course online for a fee; AAA members receive a discount. Those with AAA auto insurance will receive a premium discount. People with auto insurance through other providers may also be eligible for a premium discount.
Mature Driver Improvement Program
Designed for drivers 55 and older, the program provides instruction on defensive driving, California motor vehicle laws, updates on rules of the road, and the effects that medication, fatigue, alcohol, visual, or auditory limitations have on a person’s driving ability. The California DMV provides a list of fee-base, approved Mature Driver Improvement Programs.
Transportation Research and Education for Driving Safety (TREDS)
Of particular interest are their Aging Drivers program, which helps older adults adapt their driving habits as physical and cognitive abilities change, and their Distracted Driving program, which addresses the dangers of cell phone use, multitasking, and other attention-diverting behaviors behind the wheel. Both programs are available at no cost.
Last updated September 2025 by Stanford Parkinson's Community Outreach.