MVD DRIVER'S LICENSE VISION TESTS GO ONLINE.(Main)

Byline: MARK HUMMELS, photo by Victor Jose Cobo

Need your eyes checked? Go online.

New Mexico has become the first state in the nation to offer online vision tests for its driver's license exams.

So far, the tests are only offered at a handful of state Motor Vehicle Division field offices -- including the Alameda Street MVD office in Santa Fe. But officials say it probably won't be long before the eye tests are available at shopping malls and eventually in the comfort of your own home.

``We like to have a person have to physically come into the office the least amount of times,'' said Keith Perry, deputy director of the state MVD.

``Not that we don't like to see them,'' he added. ``But we want to transition as much as possible to allow people to do transactions with us on the phone or on the Web.''

Already, motorists can renew their vehicle registrations online. And a new system expected to be ready by this summer will allow people to send proof of vehicle-emissions tests by telephone or the Internet.

At present, Perry said, only Bernalillo County residents are required to have smog tests for their vehicles.

Under its existing contract, the state pays VisionRx -- an Elmsford, N.Y.-based software company that developed the vision tests -- 50 cents for each online test administered.

These exams test only a person's ability to see clearly in the center of his or her vision field. But other tests expected to be added will check peripheral vision, color vision and the ability to distinguish contrasts -- a key to nighttime vision.

Perry said the state has not adopted minimum standards for those additional vision tests.

The vision-acuity test now being used online in Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Las Cruces is based on a ``tumbling E'' format. Test subjects are asked to identify the direction the prongs of an E-shaped figure are facing.

Because the figures are displayed at random, the test is less subject to cheating than are similar tests using charts that can be memorized, said James Laux, vice president of marketing for VisionRx.

Of course, the online tests open new avenues for cheating -- which is why they can't be taken from your home at the moment or without supervision.

At least not until technology is widely enough available to test a person's online identity through such measures as facial recognition, eye scans or fingerprints.

``We have to come up to a level that we can be assured that the person who logs on is the person that should be taking the test,'' Perry said.

Expansion of the computer tests is dependent on the governor signing a bill to increase annual vehicle-registration fees by $2.

About 75 percent of the extra money would be earmarked for a database to crack down on motorists who drop their auto insurance. The rest, Perry said, would fund the online vision tests and driver's license exams.

The automated driver's license tests would be available in a variety of languages. They would cost the state from 75 cents to $2 per test, depending on which test and language are chosen, Perry said.

``We're sitting on pins and needles,'' he said, while waiting to see whether Johnson will sign Senate Bill 438 to fund the programs.

Laux said New Mexico was the first state to begin using the online vision test, which first appeared in Santa Fe in late January. He said as many as five other states could be using the online vision tests by the end of this year.

A sample eye test can be conducted online (www.visionrx.com), but for now, you'll have to visit the MVD for the real thing.

CAPTION(S):

1. State Motor Vehicle Department employee Kristi Padilla sets up a computer for the next person taking an online eye test Wednesday afternoon. Since January, people applying for driver's licenses have been able to take the vision exam online. New Mexico is the first state in the nation to try the online test