PRYING THE WHEEL FROM THEIR COLD DEAD HANDS:

While cars in Germany are required to undergo regular technical and safety inspections, drivers are not held to similar standards. Anyone who has ever obtained a driver's license can get behind the wheel of a car. As a result, an increasing number of drivers on busy autobahns and bustling downtown streets are people with heart problems, poor circulation and other age-related limitations, like vision problems, hearing deficiencies and the first symptoms of dementia.

According to the German Automobile Club (ADAC), 1.7 million people between the ages of 75 and 84 own a car in Germany, and they often drive under the influence of strong medications that can significantly impair their reflexes and ability to react. Based on the amount of driving they do, the threat posed by seniors is similar to that of beginning drivers aged 18 to 21. And it's to be expected that the number of accidents they cause will increase considerably in the coming years.

Hardly any other population group is growing as fast as people over 75. And soon, for the first time in German history, the majority of people who reach this age will have a driver's license. "For that reason, road traffic and accidents will change considerably in the coming years," says Dresden traffic psychologist Bernhard Schlag.

Accident statistics show that in 2011 seniors were involved in accidents at an above-average rate, were more likely than others to suffer serious consequences and bore the brunt of the blame in about 70 percent of all accidents in which they were involved. "While the situation tends to be improving in other age groups, it is getting worse among the elderly," says Schlag.

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