THE TIMES--WHERE MEN ARE ANGELS

Elders Behind the Wheel (NY Times. 7/27/03)

When an 86-year-old driver plowed through a farmers market at high speed in Santa Monica recently, killing 10 people and injuring dozens of others, he reignited a smoldering debate over the need for stricter regulation of elderly drivers. It is a sensitive issue, pitting the desire of older Americans to remain mobile and independent against the public's need for safety on the roads. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers to this dilemma. Experts say there is no surefire test to spot those apt to cause trouble behind the wheel and no alternative transportation in many parts of the country to serve those barred from driving.

Virtually everyone agrees that as people reach advanced age their reflexes slow, their vision deteriorates and their strength, agility and coordination may diminish. But plenty of old people retain their skills to an advanced age, and plenty of young people can be terrible drivers. Statistically, the elderly do not cause all that many deaths on the highways, partly because many limit their driving as their abilities diminish, avoiding highways or sticking to home after dark. Drivers 75 and older are more likely to be involved in collisions than middle-aged drivers and more likely to be held liable for causing injuries and property damage. But mostly they harm themselves and their passengers. Drivers younger than 30 are responsible for far more injuries and lives lost in the vehicles they hit. Teenagers remain the greatest menace. [...]

The privilege of driving should not lightly be denied to the elderly in a society built around the automobile. In the absence of any foolproof system of weeding out dangerous drivers, society will have to rely on the elderly to recognize their own limitations and on family members to engage in a friendly conspiracy to take away their keys.

That's absurd. People, especially the elderly, are unlikely to judge themselves incompetent to do much of anything, let alone something like drive. Driving shopuld be a privilege that obtains from ages 21 to 75, but can be revoked for either legal or medical reasons at any time. If old people and young people need to get around, let them depend on family for rides and return responsibility for young and old to their families. We can rebuild social capital even as we make our roads safer. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 15, 2003 10:40 AM