A California DMV office gave a new driver's license to a man who disclosed on his renewal form that he had a medical ailment that made him legally blind.

The 72-year-old man doesn't plan to test his luck and actually drive. In fact, he's a lawyer who represented an elderly driver who plowed into a farmers' market that killed 10 people almost 10 years ago.

He filled out the form honestly and said he had retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative illness that reduces peripheral vision. In his case, he lost 94 percent of his vision and can only see a small tunnel in front of him.

He was curious to see what would happen, so he grabbed his white cane and got his daughter as a guide. When a clerk at the DMV asked him to read an eye chart on the wall, it took a while for him to find the chart, but he had no trouble reading it.

DMV clerks are supposed to order a driving test for people with the man's condition, but this clerk never did. A new license showed up in the mail two weeks later.

A department spokeswoman had no explanation.