HEALTH OF DRIVERS AT ISSUE VALLEY DEATH IGNITES DEBATE.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Staff Writer

When state Department of Motor Vehicles officials returned Carlton Davenport's suspended license, they took a risk and his word that medication would stop his epileptic seizures.

They were wrong.

Davenport told police he suffered a seizure March 27 at the steering wheel of the vehicle that ran over and killed Christa Irmhild Routhieaux as the 57-year-old walked in her Van Nuys neighborhood.

As police decide whether to seek criminal charges against Davenport, his case opens a window on what some say is a need for tighter rules for drivers who have experienced strokes and who have epilepsy, heart disease or other conditions that could cause them to lose consciousness behind the steering wheel.

Thousands get ill

DMV officials say Davenport is among 13,700 drivers whose licenses are suspended or revoked each year for medical conditions that could cause them to crash. No record is kept of how many of those motorists win back their licenses and are on the road.

``They need to watch these people a little closer,'' said Allen M. Lawrence, a Canoga Park commercial insurance broker and a member of the California Transportation Commission. ``I certainly have a grave concern about innocent people being injured by drivers who don't qualify to be on the road.''

Lawrence said the DMV should pool information on these drivers into a data base for monitoring them and their ability to drive safely.

``If we knew how many people there were, it could really help focus some energy on this,'' Lawrence said.

According to the California Highway Patrol, fatal crashes caused by seizures are so rare that statistics are not kept.

Davenport defended the DMV's decision to return his license, saying his seizure was unforeseeable.

``I feel I was safe out there because of the medication,'' Davenport said. ``I just think everyone should have the opportunity if you go through the right channels.''

Davenport told investigators he had not had a seizure in more than a year before the fatal crash, police said.

Procedure followed

DMV officials contend they could have done nothing to prevent the crash because there was no indication that Davenport's epilepsy still posed a danger.

``Unless we have some new information, we have to assume everything is OK,'' said Jan Honey, chief of the DMV's driver safety program. ``We (had) no recent evidence to give us any particular concern about this driver.''

However, there already were warning signs of trouble in Davenport's driving.

He was driving on a suspended license for failing to appear on traffic citations that threatened a driving record already marred by three crashes in two years.

Even if epilepsy played no role in them, the three crashes eventually would have come to DMV officials' attention and resulted in Davenport's being deemed a negligent operator, Honey said. Such drivers face sanctions ranging from just a warning to license revocation, she said.

Physicians questioned

Assemblyman Tom McClintock, R-Granada Hills, a member of the Assembly Transportation Committee, said DMV officials apparently did all they could to monitor Davenport. He said he would like the DMV to pay more attention to doctors who clear the way for risky patients to drive.

``One way to address the issue is to keep track of the physicians who've given faulty opinions,'' McClintock said.

The process is supposed to work like this: Doctors are required under state law to notify county health authorities of Alzheimer's, dementia or other conditions that cause a loss of consciousness. In turn, health officials tell the DMV.

A DMV hearing officer then interviews the individual, studies the medical records and often administers a driving test.

``If we feel the condition is such that it's extremely dangerous, we may revoke their license, suspend it or place restrictions,'' Honey said. ``If a doctor says the individual is free of seizures for the past six months and the condition is very well controlled by medication, there is no reason that person should not have the opportunity to drive.''

In some cases, driving privileges are restored on condition the driver periodically submit medical records, she said.

What jeopardizes this system is any reluctance on the part of the patient to be truthful with the doctor or the doctors' concern that they are violating confidentiality by revealing patients' loss of consciousness, she said.

``It drives a wedge between doctors and their patients,'' said San Diego Dr. James S. Grisolia, an advisory board member of the Epilepsy Foundation, a Maryland group that opposes requirements for doctors to report to the state about their patients' private care.

California is just one of six states where doctors are forced to make such reports, he said.

Medication can completely control seizures in about half of epilepsy cases and, in Grisolia's opinion, public safety is not put at risk by drivers with this condition.

``They tend to be safer than the overall motoring population,'' he said.

``Seizures tend to occur when people are relaxed or a little drowsy, so they tend to happen less often when people are behind the wheel (where) they are alert and even annoyed.''

Vehicle jumps curb

What triggered Davenport's seizure is unclear, but the result was that he lost control of his Ford Explorer. It jumped the curb on Sepulevda Boulevard, just south of Vanowen Street, and hit Routhieaux, who was killed instantly. Police said Davenport told them he suffered a seizure.

``If he had been stopped (before the crash), at least the suspension would have been dealt with,'' said Los Angeles police Detective Gary Pfeifle of the Valley Traffic Division. ``It would have been up to the officer to arrest him or cite him or impound his car. But that's a random, hit-or-miss proposition.

``He's got the ultimate responsibility,'' Pfeifle said about Davenport.