Should Seniors Drive?
In the wake of several serious accients by elderly drivers, lawmakers on Beacon Hill are considering changes to rules regarding seniors and driving, including one that would issue new driving tests to anyone over 85. Another bill makes it easier for doctors to recommend elderly drivers have their licenses revoked. This week, we’re looking at elderly mobility, and asking, once seniors are unable to continue driving, how can they get around?
This discussion and more TODAY on Radio Boston. Tune in at 1pm and join the conversation at 1.800.423.8255, that’s 1.800.423.TALK.
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Please! We do not need more legislation. Can’t the present RMV just review anyone over 85? What is the percentage of the population (still driving) in MA over 85? The RMV should take some responsibility for licensing of drivers, after all it is they who grant the privilege.
Testing by age is discriminatory – what about the vast number of accidents that involve people c. 18-23 years of age? The deadly accidents involving young people seem to quickly fade from memory. Nor do I see many elderly people texting or phoning while driving, as with younger age groups. And we can’t seem to keep drunk drivers of ANY age off the roads! Test ALL drivers periodically if you want to enact more legislation.
If we start testing everyone at a young age, why is it discriminatory? At 53, I would love to be tested and hope that as I get older a system is in place to get me off the road when I am no longer able.
RMV doesn’t do it. The police don’t do it, unless you harm someone. Family doesn’t do it because they don’t want to take over the responsibility of driving someone around.
I’ve been in near accidents with a neighbor who shouldn’t be driving. I’ve contacted the police, filled out the form with RMV and talked to his friends. NOTHING GETS DONE. Soon he will kill someone and then he will be off the road.
My mother should not have been driving when she had her last accident. She was 78 years old and fortunately neither she nor anybody else was hurt. My brother and I realized that she should not drive anymore, and told her so. There was a lot of argument from her. She was developing dementia and she was not able to get the car repaired after the accident so by default she did not drive again. My brother and I were responsible for her transportation. I think that testing should be mandatory starting at age 70.
We can not take the rights of anyone away without first implementing and testing an alternative solution! Invest in your transportation infrastructure first then legislate. If seniors are not allowed on the roads, who’s going to take them to their destinations? Will the legislators start a volunteer van service?
It’s amazing how weaselly everyone becomes when the topic of testing old drivers is brought up. I’ll be 60 next year and would have no problem with being tested every five years. And, it need not cost the state a penny.
The test can be taken in the licensee’s care. The licensee can pay a nominal fee to be tested. Driving instructors can be trained and deputized to administer the test. Note: we are mandated to pay $29 per year (some pay bribes) to have our car inspected. What’s the big deal about paying say $60 to be tested.
I would also test all NEW drivers after the first five years. Driving is a privilege.
OOPS that should be: The test can be taken in the licensee’s *car*.
Transportation is an issue along with independence.
Figure out what it costs to run a car: insurance, gas, maintenance and use that money to pay for taxis and other
transportation.
It’s a lot less expensive than the cost of a life.
Thank you so much for this show. A hugely important topic that deserves a lot more attention than it commonly gets.
I have seen this first with my grandparents and now with my father-in-law. My grandfather was clearly not driving well in his late 80s. I was too terrified to get in the car when he was driving and told my mother and her sisters that I would not be in the car with him. They were completely unable to deal with this. At 89, he was in an accident and lost his lower leg. He went into a decline and died at 90, miserable and depressed. My father-in-law, now 80 and living in another state, has had a series of accidents. The most recent landed him in the hospital with broken ribs and totalled the car (no one else was involved, thank goodness.) He cannot park straight. He bought a new car and is still driving, badly. He is adamant about continuing to drive. Family members need legal help in getting their
elders off the road.
It is also necessary to realize that many elders live outside urban areas, where no car is even more confining. This was a huge factor for my grandfather (Idaho) and is for my father-in-law. And scheduling things days in advance doesn’t work. The ice cream test is exactly right!
Encouraging older adults to do what a retired social worker friend of mine did might be helpful. She calculated the monthly expenses involved in keeping a car in Brookline and allots herself that monthly amount for taxi service. She began this at age 78 (is now 83) and finds herself having extra money to help her granddaughter pay for college expenses!
Selma is the perfect example of why we need to change the current system. How can anyone think that straddling the yellow line and completely ignoring honking makes her a safe driver? I’ll grant that there are a lot of impatient drivers who honk for the slightest reason but if she’s constantly hearing horns maybe she should try to determine what it is she does that provokes the ire of other drivers? I just hope it doesn’t take a serious accident before she realizes her driving is impaired.
[...] and driving June 27, 2009 — by Tinker Ready Nice piece on WBUR’s Radio Boston on the current debate in the state over testing older [...]
I agree with Gloria. Everyone over 85 should be tested automatically every year (every 6 months? Better yet, everyone over 65 could be tested once a year. Who cares? I am a 67 year old active working DRIVER with no problems – so far! However, I am in favor of testing . Who could live with himself if he were the cause of a terrible road tragedy?
I must add, however, that i think ALL drivers, whatever their age, should be tested more often than they are now. It is the sick, slow, befuddled, distracted, immature (not to mention DRUNK drivers!) who are the hazards, not ALL the old. Please.
I believe re-testing should begin at age 50, for everyone, and no relicensing over the computer. But also, please ENFORCE existing laws, such as no passing on the right to jump long lines of traffic. Please publish widely the rules regarding RIGHT OF WAY, which are laxly observed. And, please pass laws regarding NO HANDHELD DEVICES BE USED at any age while drivng. One’s total attention needs to be devoted to the task of driving.
I’m 65, licensed to fly twin-engine airplanes in zero visibility with lightning outside, tooth-loosening turbulence, people screaming for God and throwing up in the cockpit. Not that I like to do that, but I can.
I get tested every two years by an instructor and have to maintain my proficiency at a certain level.
Testing in cars should start around 80, since that’s when skills seem to deteriorate the sharpest.
My mother lost her license — unfairly — at age 88 and cannot retest in her own car, since it has no center handbrake.
The RMV in this state is totally screwed up, so don’t expect it to do anything intelligent.
Excellent show. As i listened to it today, I heard a loud bang outside. I live on a very busy rural road in Dracut, MA. I checked and sure enough a confused looking 80-something man had driven OVER THE CENTER LINE and collided nearly head-on into an oncoming car. fortunately no one was injured.
i could not believe it happened while i was listening to this show!
I JUST WANTED TO COMMENT ABOUT S.C.M. TRANSPORTATION . I HAD PRIVILEGE TO WORK FOR S.C.M. TRANSPORTATION FOR MANY YEARS AND CAN TELL YOU FIRST HAND, THE SERVICE AND TRAINING ARE SECOND TO NONE! THE EMPLOYEE’S ARE DEDICATED TO THE SAFETY AND NEEDS OF THE SENIORS THEY TRANSPORT. ALTHOUGH I HAVE NOT WORKED FOR THE COMPANY IN OVER THREE YEARS,I CONSIDER ALL THE EMPLOYEE’S AND THE CLIENTS SOMEWHAT OF AN EXTENDED FAMILY… THAT IS WHAT A CLOSE KNIT ORGANIZATION S.C.M. IS AND I AM PROUD TO HAVE BEEN A PART OF IT……
Hello,
I am 76 years young now. Plan to give up driving at 80.
I have been trying to get ITN Independent Transportation Network for the greater Franklin, Mass area and hopefully all of Massachusetts. I have been emailing Ernie Ott at
Ernie.Ott@itnamerica.org The idea is to have good options for getting around after giving up driving. I have emailed Karen Alves at the Franklin Senior Center and my State Rep James Vallee.
13 places in USA have ITN.
What can you do to help. I’m not smart enough to talk to the people who would be very helpful.