Elderly Drivers-Your opinion?

[Aelia Jusa]

Originally posted by B_part: quote: Originally posted by Timber Loftis: I say make it fair for all regardless of age. Make a driver's license expire after 10 years, and make people take the test again to renew their license. You could pick what parts of the test you might want to re-test -- for instance, in Illinois I had to take the written portion and eye exam again to get an in-state license when I moved here.

Here in Italy your driver's licence expires after 10 years. To get it back you must pass a check up for eyesight and some other things. Not that serious, though. And usually cheated.

Also, after the age of 50, the limit falls to 5 years. After 70 you have to pass a medical test every 3 years.
[/QUOTE]Yes I think there definitely should be a system where testing is more frequent for older people. You're not going to change in driving ability between 35 and 45, but when you're over 60, even 5 years is a long time and you can change dramatically in that time. If there is more frequent licence renewal when you're older though, it should be meaningful, that is, able to identify people who aren't able to drive safely anymore. Just eyesight exams aren't nearly enough. Also maybe doctors should be able to notify authorities about an elderly person whose physical abilities have degenerated such that they are unable to drive safely, and they have no intention of voluntarily handing in their licence. I definitely agree that there needs to be a lot of options for older people who can't drive anymore to be mobile and independent. Public transport and reduced taxi fares and so on, as well as community aid would be helpful.

I think also if you're going to have mandatory testing for everyone, then maybe the actual test should be reconsidered. I mean, every bad driver who's out there must have passed the test originally - it's easy enough to learn skills needed to pass the driving test, but that doesn't mean that people won't drive recklessly or incompetently after that.

[ 07-19-2003, 05:57 PM: Message edited by: Aelia Jusa ]

[Desdicado]

The thing is, with an increasingly elderly population and hence more older voters, which government will enforce this?.
Lets face it, with the best will in the world an 85 year old will have reflexes worse then an 18 year old who's had 2 pills and a bottle of Vodka.
No way should they be able to operate a deadly machine like a car.

[Nerull]

An easy solution is to simply require retesting upon renewing your license for ALL people, and selling it as an attempt to stop unsafe drivers. You don't want to make it look like you are practicing "ageism," as this could get the law thrown out by the courts. It would put a huge burden on the facilities where the testing occurs, so you would definitely have to expand those facilities before such measures went into effect.

I know in Texas you get your license renewed every four years; they might have to increase that to 5 or 6 if the strain gets to be too much for the system. Hopefully, they would be able to keep it every 4 years and still do this (tough to do, though).

[khazadman]

Well if they drive anything like my father they should take their licenses. I will never ride with him again. He's the king of tail gaters.

[cormack]

My Grandma use to press the gas then let up, repeat, repeat..ahhh! She was a great forward driver but was often oblivious as to who she just cut off on the road. One time she cut a guy off and he passed wildly flipping her off and she didn't know that it was directed at her. She scared me really bad that day and I always was her driver after that. She was 72 at the time.

A regular test is needed after say 60 imho. People are different and that needs to be accounted for.

[cloud ff7 38]

i say if u need a walker then dont drive or if your over 65

[InsaneBane]

In Denmark you have to pass a medic test each year from the age of 70 to keep your drivers license. I do not think it is discrimination though - we don't let people under 18 drive a car either. The reason is that they are not mentally and/or physical able to drive a car in a safe way.

Apropos the mentioned accident: Here in Denmark we had an accident for a couple of years ago with a 'young' guy (in the 20'ies) who also did mistake the speeder for the brake (he paniced I guess) and caused an accident by hitting several people on the pavement. He fortunately did not kill anyone but a lot of people were injured.

I think we focus a lot on the driver capability of elder people, when a serious accident caused by some old driver is in the news. It is the same with the young guys that had just received their license (in this case the statistics are backing up on the poor driver capabilities though). Right now here in Denmark, the focus is on young truck drivers, because of a couple of serious accidents this summer caused by this group of drivers.

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Insane