Filing Form DL-102: PennDOT Eye Examination and Appeals

PennDOT Form DL-102 is Pennsylvania’s Report of Eye Examination, the document a vision specialist completes and sends to the Bureau of Driver Licensing so the state can confirm you meet its visual standards for driving. You fill out the top of the form with your identifying information, your examiner completes the clinical section during an eye exam, and the finished form goes to the Bureau of Driver Licensing in Harrisburg by mail or through PennDOT’s online portal. An optometrist, ophthalmologist, physician assistant, certified registered nurse practitioner, or any licensed physician with proper vision-testing equipment can complete it.¹

Why PennDOT Asked You for a DL-102

You don’t file a DL-102 on your own initiative. PennDOT sends a letter requesting one, and the trigger is usually one of the following:

You were randomly selected for mature-driver reexamination. Each month PennDOT pulls 1,900 drivers over 45 for retesting seven months before their renewal date, and vision testing is part of it.²
You failed the basic vision screening at a Driver License Center during a renewal or application visit.
A healthcare provider reported a vision-related condition. Pennsylvania law requires physicians and other authorized providers to report any patient age 16 or older diagnosed with a disorder affecting safe driving, within 10 days of diagnosis.³
A police officer or other party flagged concerns about your visual competency.
You were in a crash that raised questions about whether vision played a role.

Ignoring the request has consequences. Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1519, PennDOT suspends the driving privileges of anyone who refuses or fails to comply with a required examination, and the suspension lasts until you submit the completed form and your competency is confirmed.⁴

Filling Out Your Section

Print your full legal name, street address, city, state, zip code, and date of birth at the top of the form. A P.O. Box alone is not accepted; you can list one in addition to a street address, but not as your only address.¹ You also enter your eight-digit Pennsylvania driver’s license number, which appears on the front of your license or camera card. Copy it straight from the card. A wrong digit disconnects the form from your driving record and delays processing.

What the Examiner Records

Your vision specialist handles the clinical section. During the exam they document:

Visual acuity in each eye separately and both eyes together, tested with and without corrective lenses.
Horizontal field of vision in degrees, to confirm you meet the 120-degree minimum.⁵
Whether you need glasses or contacts to drive, and whether any special restriction such as daylight-only driving is warranted.
Prognosis notes, including any recommendation for a six- or twelve-month follow-up if you have a progressive condition.

The examiner also enters their state license number, professional address, signature, and date. Before you leave the office, check every clinical field. Blank boxes in this section are the most common reason PennDOT returns forms.

The Vision Standards Behind the Form

67 Pa. Code § 83.3 sorts drivers into tiers based on corrected visual acuity, and knowing where you fall tells you what to expect from the review.

20/40 or better combined: unrestricted license.
Worse than 20/40 but correctable to 20/40: unrestricted except that you must wear corrective lenses whenever you drive.⁵
Correctable to 20/60 but not 20/40: daylight-only driving with corrective lenses.
Between 20/60 and 20/70 best correction: daylight-only driving is possible, but only on the recommendation of a licensed optometrist or physician equipped to evaluate visual acuity.⁶
Between 20/70 and 20/100 best correction: a restricted license is possible with an optometrist’s or ophthalmologist’s recommendation, but with significant limits — no freeways, no vehicles over 10,000 pounds, no motorcycles, an annual vision exam, and possibly a driving-radius limit.⁵
Worse than 20/100: you do not meet the minimum for a regular license.

Every driver also needs a combined horizontal field of vision of at least 120 degrees, excluding normal blind spots. A separate Bioptic Telescope Learner’s Permit program exists for some drivers with acuity below 20/100 but at least 20/200 in the best corrected eye; it has its own application, training hours, and permit process outside the ordinary DL-102 pathway.

Submitting the Form to PennDOT

You have two options.

By Mail

Send the original signed form to the address printed on the form:

Bureau of Driver Licensing
P.O. Box 68682
Harrisburg, PA 17106-8682¹

Photocopy or scan the completed form first. If it gets lost in the mail, you won’t have to sit for a second exam.

Online

PennDOT offers an electronic DL-102 that you and your examiner can complete and submit digitally. From PennDOT’s medical reporting forms page, click the “Click here to submit online” link for the DL-102.⁷ Enter your name and email, then add your examiner as the second signer. Once both parties sign electronically and click Finish, the form is emailed directly to PennDOT.⁸ The electronic route avoids mail delays and lost paperwork.

What Happens After PennDOT Gets It

PennDOT reviews medical reports within about 15 days of receipt.⁹ You’ll get written notice of any change to your driving status. Three outcomes are typical:

No restriction added. Your vision meets the unrestricted standard and your license is unchanged.
Restriction added. If you need corrective lenses to reach 20/40, PennDOT adds restriction code “1” to your record, meaning you must wear glasses or contacts whenever you drive. Other restrictions such as daylight-only driving may be added depending on your acuity. You may receive an updated license or camera card reflecting the change.¹⁰
Recall of driving privilege. If your results show you no longer meet the minimum visual standards, PennDOT recalls your license indefinitely until you present satisfactory evidence that you’re competent to drive, which could mean treatment, surgery, or a later exam showing improvement.¹¹

Appealing a Recall or Suspension

If PennDOT recalls or suspends your driving privilege based on the DL-102 results, you can appeal under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1550. The appeal goes to the Court of Common Pleas in your county, and the court’s review is limited to whether you are competent to drive under the medical standards set by the Medical Advisory Board.¹¹ Winning usually requires new medical evidence: a second opinion from a specialist showing your vision actually does meet the standard, or documentation that the condition has been corrected since the original exam. Disagreement alone rarely succeeds.

Common Reasons Forms Get Delayed

Wrong or missing eight-digit license number. Copy it from the card, not from memory.
P.O. Box listed as the sole address. Include your street address.¹
Blank fields in the clinical section. Check the form before you leave the exam room.
Missing signature or date from the examiner.
A completed form left sitting at home. If you’re already suspended for non-compliance, the suspension continues until PennDOT receives and clears the form.

1
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. DL-102 Pennsylvania Report of Eye Examination
2
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Pennsylvania Senior Citizens Non-Commercial Drivers License and Vehicle Registration Services
3
Pennsylvania Code. 67 Pa Code Chapter 83 – Physical and Mental Criteria, Including Vision Standards
4
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 75 – Examination of Applicant for Drivers License
5
Pennsylvania Code. 67 Pa Code 83.3 – Visual Standards
6
Cornell Law Institute. Pennsylvania Code 67 Pa Code 83.3 – Visual Standards
7
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Medical Reporting Forms
8
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. DL-102 Report of Eye Examination – Online Submission
9
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Medical Reporting and PennDOT Review Process
10
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. License Types and Restrictions
11
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 75 Section 1519 – Determination of Incompetency