Amputee Takes the DMV to Court for Right to Drive School Bus

As Steve Gaut sees it, he’s your basic, all-around able-bodied guy.

Tall and muscular, Gaut water skis, snow skis, plays volleyball and coaches his daughter’s softball team. He built his family a home on 10 acres eight miles out of town, and installed a generator, a well, water lines and a septic tank. Then he planted avocado trees and became a farmer.

Such a portfolio, Gaut reasons, more than qualifies the 37-year-old father of two for a job as a school bus driver. But officials with the Department of Motor Vehicles think otherwise, and have refused to grant Gaut a license to chauffeur Fallbrook children to and from school.

The reason? Gaut is missing half a leg. Consequently, the state considers him “medically unfit” for the job.

Convinced that he is, on the contrary, medically fit for just about anything, Gaut has sued the mighty DMV, contending that the denial represents discrimination. A hearing on the case is scheduled next month in North County Superior Court.

“I’m hurt, mad and offended by their decision, and I think it’s blatant discrimination,” said Gaut, 37, whose left leg was amputated below the knee following a dune buggy accident in 1976.

“It’s not like they’re telling me specifically why I’m unqualified. It’s just this letter from a bunch of invisible people way up in Sacramento telling me ‘no.’ They don’t seem to realize that I can do the job, and I can do it as well or better than a lot of people with two good legs.”

That he can, Fallbrook Union School District officials say, and they should know. Gaut drove a school bus for the district five days a week for three months last fall under a temporary certificate issued by the California Highway Patrol.

During that time, his driving record was spotless and he was “reliable, punctual, responsible, trustworthy and good with kids,” Max Mattox, the district’s director of transportation and Gaut’s supervisor, said.

To obtain the temporary permit, Gaut passed the district’s training program and a CHP test for safety and driving skills. Officials administering those exams said he performed above average and showed no evidence of being limited by his disability.

“Heck, I didn’t even realize he was an amputee until he told me,” said Donna Rutan, Fallbrook’s driver trainer. “He’s very agile. He walks just like any other guy.”

To the DMV, however, Gaut is not like any other guy with an ambition to pilot a school bus. Instead, DMV Driver Safety Manager Richard Hensley said, “Mr. Gaut is a man with an impairment that makes him unable to meet the high requirements we set for drivers responsible for school children.

“When it comes to a school bus, we cannot take risks or make exceptions,” Hensley said, citing standards defined in Title 13 of the California Administrative Code. “Because of the fatigue factor and other reasons, the risk posed by a driver with a lost or impaired limb is simply greater than that of a driver without such an impairment.”

That attitude, Gaut has charged, is an assumption that constitutes discrimination.

“No, it is not,” Hensley said. “The denial of Mr. Gaut’s permit is no different from the denial of a permit to someone with a heart problem, someone with insulin-controlled diabetes, or someone with poor eyesight or bad hearing. Individuals with these and other assorted limitations are applying every day, and we have to turn them down, for safety’s sake.”

Hensley said that to his knowledge, an amputee had never before applied to the state for a permit to drive a school bus. He added that the panel that reviewed Gaut’s request is currently debating whether to reconsider his case or direct the state Attorney General’s office to defend the DMV in court next month.

Gaut’s Fallbrook attorney, Kevin Croswell, could not be reached for comment Friday. But in court documents, Croswell charges that the DMV acted “capriciously and arbitrarily” and “without sufficient reason” in denying Gaut his license.

Backing up that charge, Croswell notes that the department’s action contradicts a recommendation by a DMV field representative closely familiar with the case. That representative recommended the permanent license be awarded after presiding over a January hearing on the matter.

Further, the documents describe physical tests that Gaut’s doctor administered as evidence that the amputee is in sound shape and not handicapped by his wood and fiberglass, ankle-jointed prosthesis.

“We’ve come a long way since the days of Capt. Hook, but these (DMV) guys seem completely unaware of that,” Gaut said. “I can do anything with my prosthesis.”

When he got the news that his appeal of the DMV’s decision had been denied, Gaut was “burning mad.” Friends and fellow bus drivers were too, and they suggested he sue. After a week of reflection--and a close examination of the family finances--Gaut decided to take their advice.

“I kept thinking about the next amputee that comes along, and I decided to fight them as much for him as for me,” said Gaut, who estimates he has lost as much as $10,000 in pay since he was prohibited from driving last November. “If there are rules that keep a perfectly competent amputee who has proven he can do the job from doing it, then those rules should be changed.”

A 5-year resident of Fallbrook who is well known about town, Gaut said he has received several dozen calls and letters from supporters of his cause, some of whom have children who are missing limbs. Many people have sent checks.

In addition, everyone down at the “bus barn,” as district transportation headquarters are affectionately called, has been “incredibly supportive. They even suggested we throw a rally to make money for attorney’s fees. That was a bit dramatic for me.”

Despite the support, Gaut said, it is frustrating performing district maintenance chores at a lower wage when “I’m really dying to get back behind the wheel.”

Gaut said that should the judge rule against him next month, he is prepared to take the case “all the way to the (U.S.) Supreme Court. I’m determined to win this thing.”