Too old to drive

Today is June 16th and so far this month there have been 3 major accidents involving drivers over the age of 70. A 93 year old man drove into a Wal-Mart when he hit the gas instead of the brake; a 73 year old woman drove into a crowd injuring 7 people (her 3rd accident since she turned 70) and an 89 year old woman killed a 4 year old in a crosswalk last week. Something really needs to be done.
I remember years ago when I bought my first car myself (not from mom and dad). I was so excited. Too bad I signed the loan on the 13th of the month (April) because that car gave me nothing but trouble. About 6 weeks after buying the car, on Memorial Day, the car in front of me missed his exit on the highway. Instead of waiting for the next exit, he came to a complete stop from 65 mph to back up to that exit.
One month later, I was stopped waiting to take a left turn at a T intersection. The 76 year old woman pulling out of that street drove into the side of my stopped car. She didn’t see me right in front of her on that bright and sunny June afternoon. Then 6 weeks after that I was driving down the street and a man pulled out of a side street into the side of my car. He didn’t see me. This was in 1998. The man was born in 1909! Yup, not a typo, 1909!!!
Needless to say I have had a passion for this for over 10 years now! I remember shortly after all of those accidents watching a TV show (a Dateline or something similar). The topic was “Is Grandpa too old to drive?” I say YES he is!!! I remember they did some sort of elaborate eye exam on the reporter and on an 80 something year old man. It printed out a large circle. The reporter, in his 30’s or 40’s, had a small grayed out area. That was his natural blind spot. The Grandpa? More than 1/3 of his circle was gray. The reporter asked the doctor, “what if something was in that gray area?” The doctor answered, “he wouldn’t see it”. The test was given to a man who took a left turn into oncoming traffic. His wife was sitting in the passenger seat. She was killed by the car that hit them. The elderly man said no cars were coming. I guess the car was in that gray area.
Today’s Boston Globe had an article about this issue. The AARP is all over seniors getting retested for a driving test. I think the only way to handle this is to have everyone, yes EVERYONE retake a driving test every 10 years. You can renew your license after 5 years, online even. But you cannot renew it a second time without taking an eye exam and a new road test. I know that nerves happen, so yeah, they can retake the road test once to see if they can pass it, but I think if you fail the road test twice, then you would need to take some sort of drivers education class before being allowed to take the road test again. And I think this should go for everyone without regard to age. A 17 year old gets his license, then at 22 he can renew it and a 27 he needs a road test or NO LICENSE. Then all idiots who can’t drive would be off the road!!

Here’s a cool little graph for ya too! (copied this out of the Boston Globe, Boston.com)