1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to drivers' licenses; requiring knowledge of precautions around large 
1.3 	trucks; amending Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 171.13, subdivision 1, by 
1.4 	adding a subdivision.
1.5 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 171.13, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
1.7 		Subdivision 1.Examination subjects and locations; provisions for color 
1.8 	blindness, disabled veterans. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the 
1.9 	commissioner shall examine each applicant for a driver's license by such agency as the 
1.10 	commissioner directs. This examination must include a test of applicant's eyesight; 
1.11 	ability to read and understand highway signs regulating, warning, and directing traffic; 
1.12 	knowledge of traffic laws; knowledge of the effects of alcohol and drugs on a driver's 
1.13 	ability to operate a motor vehicle safely and legally, and of the legal penalties and 
1.14 	financial consequences resulting from violations of laws prohibiting the operation of 
1.15 	a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs; knowledge of railroad 
1.16 	grade crossing safety; knowledge of slow-moving vehicle safety; knowledge of traffic 
1.17 	laws related to bicycles; knowledge of precautions necessary when in proximity to large 
1.18 	commercial motor vehicles; an actual demonstration of ability to exercise ordinary and 
1.19 	reasonable control in the operation of a motor vehicle; and other physical and mental 
1.20 	examinations as the commissioner finds necessary to determine the applicant's fitness to 
1.21 	operate a motor vehicle safely upon the highways, provided, further however, no driver's 
1.22 	license shall be denied an applicant on the exclusive grounds that the applicant's eyesight 
1.23 	is deficient in color perception. Provided, however, that war veterans operating motor 
1.24 	vehicles especially equipped for handicapped persons, shall, if otherwise entitled to a 
2.1 	license, be granted such license. The commissioner shall make provision for giving these 
2.2 	examinations either in the county where the applicant resides or at a place adjacent thereto 
2.3 	reasonably convenient to the applicant.

2.4 	Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 171.13, is amended by adding a subdivision 
2.5 	to read:
2.6 		Subd. 1i.Driver's manual; awareness of large trucks. The commissioner shall 
2.7 	include in each edition of the driver's manual published by the department after August 1, 
2.8 	2006, a section that includes information on the precautions that a driver needs to take 
2.9 	when operating a vehicle around large commercial motor vehicles, such as, for example, 
2.10 	awareness of the commercial vehicle driver's ability to see your vehicle, of the necessity 
2.11 	of large trucks to make wide turns when cornering, of extra space requirements when large 
2.12 	trucks are changing lanes, passing, cornering, and backing up, and the extra time required 
2.13 	for commercial vehicles to attain prevailing traffic speeds.