Friday, July 31, 2009
Elderly Drivers
A couple of months ago I wrote a brief commentary about elderly drivers with thoughts that maybe it was time to somehow come up with a method of testing in order to prevent those with declining abilities from driving. I also noted that it was not a matter of chronological age so much as mental and physical acuity that should determine their ability to drive. Since that time there have been more tragic vehicle accidents, involving elderly drivers, and there have been numerous opinions made as to what needs to be done. Naturally most of those that would be directly affected felt persecuted, saying that it was unfair to test only drivers over a certain age. While that may be true, unfortunately society and the laws that govern us, provide numerous parameters based on age; and so too, should there be an age restriction when it comes to who needs driver testing and who doesn’t. As long as we can set policy based on age to determine when we go to school, when we can legally have consentual sex, when we can drink alcohol, when we can join the military and go to war and most representative of this subject, when we are “old enough” to drive a vehicle, then we certainly should be able to determine when we are “too old” to drive a vehicle.
While the argument can be made that age alone does not determine one’s mental awareness, there is no doubt that we decline physically and mentally with age and to differing degrees of rapidity. At the very least, anyone over the age of 80 years should be required to take a written and physical driving test to establish whether they should be behind the wheel. This will not help with drivers below that age who shouldn’t be driving, but at least it will prevent some potential tragedies from happening.
POSTED BY STAN on July 31, 2009
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