Humble request of older drivers

Bruce, I see you are 42 and it is my suggestion that everyone over 40 years of age have a drivers test every year. Seriously tho' there are terrible drivers of all ages and many shouldn't even have a licence. Since I done some googling here on the internet after I read your post I cannot find that drivers over 70 cause a disproportionate number of accidents. I understand your being upset with the near disaster and am glad all turned out ok but just because it was caused by an older gentleman does not correlate to bad drivers being those 70 or over.
What if that driver had been younger and had an artificial limb.............?

 

First of all, I'm sorry to hear of this incident and am glad to hear neither you nor your loved ones were injured.

Secondly, I'm going to pass on the age thing as it relates to driving ability. The reason is I know quite a few younger and middle-aged drivers who really have no business being on the road, some because they are serious lacking in driving skills and/or judgment and others because they seem to have no problem driving while under the influence of various intoxicants.


My main point, however, is that an annual driving test will do very little (if anything) to ameliorate the type of situation you encountered. For example, we have an elderly person in our family (and I'm talking mid-90's here) who has a whole host of impairments including, but not limited to, moderate hearing loss, almost zero vision in one eye, poor reflexes, and chronic fatigue.

The foregoing notwithstanding, he has had no problem passing his mandatory annual driving test for the past several years and his insurance company doesn't appear to have any problem renewing his policy every 6 months. Further, for some reason, which will confound me until the day I die, his physicians (including an internist whom he sees on a regular basis and an opthamologist) apparently don't view his persistence in operating a motor vehicle as problematic. Further still, there is absolutely no procedure available to me, personally, to get him off the road; as long as he continues to pass his annual driving test and can obtain insurance, my hands are pretty much tied.

Thus, my suggestion is to write a letter. Clearly, the standards are extremely lax and need to be adjusted. Also, we need some sort of procedure whereby we can inform the Secretary of State, DMV, or other authority, that we believe a family member is unfit to drive. There are simply too many stubborn people behind the wheel, both young, middle-aged, and old, who KNOW they shouldn't be there BUT absolutely refuse to do anything about it.

 

Doesn't this topic belong in Fred's House of Pancakes?

 

Ageism. There is nothing I could say, CLUBMEDIC, to convince you that you WILL be there. To me it's likely that at 42, you ARE there, and in deep denial. Glad you weren't hurt by that other driver's actions.

Watts D. Hour

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(clubmedic\";p=\"88000)</div>

It shouldn't be voluntary, retesting should be mandatory. But the AARP holds too much political power to ever let that happen.

 

Im 68 yrs old and the only accident i have had is while stopped at a red light a 40 yr punk ran into my rear end while talking on his cell phone. does that mean i should stop driving??????????

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(duanerw\";p=\"88028)</div>

No, unless you can't pass a retest.

 

as far as im concerned, everyone, whether they be 16 yrs old, or 116 yrs old should have to have a physical in order to drive...i have to have one to drive an airplane, so therefore, seeing how its much more dangerous driving a car,logic would dictate physicals would be mandatory...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius\";p=\"88015)</div>

It does........and now IS. :wink:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wb9tyj\";p=\"88031)</div>

I totally agree.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(AnOldHouse\";p=\"88022)</div>

It should and IS, at least in Illinois. Anyone 75 and older MUST take a driving test when his/her license is up for renewal. Those 87 and older must renew their licenses each year while the licenses of those 81-86 are good for two years.

That's not the problem. THE problem is the standards (for boys and girls of ALL ages) are so damned low the testing is pretty much meaningless. To illustrate, I have an aunt with moderate Alzheimer's who had NO PROBLEM passing her driving test......go figure. One day I learned she had a hair appointment at 12:30pm and didn't return home until after 6:00pm........she simply couldn't figure out which way home was. Fortunately, I was able to convince her to give up her car and move to a nice retirement community that has an excellent transportation system for residents. Otherwise, she'd still be on the road trying to figure out how to get back home.

My father is a different story.....attitude there is you'll have to pry my license out of my cold, dead fingers.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tag\";p=\"88040)</div>

It should and IS, at least in Illinois. Anyone 75 and older MUST take a driving test when his/her license is up for renewal. Those 87 and older must renew their licenses each year while the licenses of those 81-86 are good for two years.

That's not the problem. THE problem is the standards (for boys and girls of ALL ages) are so damned low the testing is pretty much meaningless. To illustrate, I have an aunt with moderate Alzheimer's who had NO PROBLEM passing her driving test......go figure. One day I learned she had a hair appointment at 12:30pm and didn't return home until after 6:00pm........she simply couldn't figure out which way home was. Fortunately, I was able to convince her to give up her car and move to a nice retirement community that has an excellent transportation system for residents. Otherwise, she'd still be on the road trying to figure out how to get back home.[/b][/quote]
I just heard a similar story, a friend's father with Alzheimer's. He self-limited his driving to the very familiar for years because he would routinely forget where he parked the car. But just a few weeks ago, he became completely disoriented at his local grocery store and the people at the store called for an ambulance. The hospital notified DMV and his license has been revoked. Thankfully, neither he nor anyone else was injured as a result.

 

I think the stats found at:
http://www.iii.org/media/facts/statsbyissue/highway/
might help to shed some light on this discussion.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Canuck\";p=\"88042)</div>

Yes, I think these are very helpful...but I think would be much more accurate reflection of age related driving ability issues if the age brackets were adjusted on a "per-capita" basis.

Isn't it logical that there are simply many more licensed drivers between 20 and 24 than there are between 80 and 84? I think the "flattening off" of the chart for all those 85+ demonstrates this. It was also far more common in older generations that women never became licensed drivers, where that is fairly unheard of for younger generations today except perhaps for some people who live in very large metro areas that have good mass transit and little need to drive a car. I think that would clearly demonstrate that, on a percentage basis, older folks are far more likely to cause traffic deaths than even the teenagers.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(AnOldHouse\";p=\"88045)</div>

...but I think would be much more accurate reflection of age related driving ability issues if the age brackets were adjusted on a "per-capita" basis.

[/b][/quote]

Seems like the DOT agrees. Chart title is "MOTOR VEHICLE DEATHS PER 100,000 PERSONS BY AGE, 2003". It does not appear to support your illogical logic, however.

 

All this will be moot in the not too distant future when we have grid lock and/or fuel costing $20/gal. :lol: