Yesterday's Boston Herald posted an article about the move to require Bay State drivers 75 and older to pass a mental and physical test to renew their license. I know 75 is the new 50 (or whatever), but elderly drivers (and their families) cannot always be depended upon to judge when an elderly driver should give up the privilege of driving. I myself plan to be cruising around in my Mustang convertible when I am 99 years old, but I also have to admit that that may not be a realistic idea.
The article points out:
"Deborah Banda, director for AARP of Massachusetts, said the elder-advocate group has been meeting with lawmakers to complain about the arbitrary age cutoff: "We need to get unsafe drivers of all ages off the road."
"Pressure to pass stricter rules for elderly drivers skyrocketed this year following several deadly accidents, including one that killed a 4-year-old Stoughton girl crossing the street and another that crushed a Weymouth police officer against a utility truck."
There are a lot of side issues involved in the question of elderly drivers. Is this age discrimination? If families lived closer together and were more involved, would the elderly need to drive? If public transportation were better, would the elderly need to drive? My town has a senior citizens bus which transports people various places during the day, do more towns need buses like that? How does our society regard the elderly and their need to feel useful and independent?
Public safety should be the overriding issue in this debate. I don't like the idea of setting an arbitrary age for testing elderly drivers, but I think this may be an idea whose time has come.
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