In an Op-Ed in The New York Times, orthopedic surgeon Andrew L. Haas recounted how he was hit and gravely wounded by an elderly driver, and decried that “someone can get behind the wheel of a potentially lethal automobile without having had his basic competence tested in decades. Most drivers receive their last exposure to driver education and testing in their mid-teens. This makes no sense. Given their great, and frequently proven, capacity to do harm, drivers should be required to take a continuing driver education course every 10 years.” He also notes that only Illinois and New Hampshire require road tests for older drivers — and those only after age 75. It’s a good question: As people live longer, shouldn’t we be taking greater care to ensure that older drivers are competent?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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39 Comments
This might be a good argument for Wichita’s building dedicated bike lanes that could also be used by elderly persons unable to pass a driving test who could ride adult tri- and quadricycles (my grandfather did this after age 80), which would promote healthy longevity, and also electrical golf-cart-type minivehicles. We could also develop effective mass-transportation as well, which is how tens of millions of elderly citizens get around in major cities.
I would go with on-road testing for ALL drivers – with increasing frequency at BOTH ends of the age spectrum. With young drivers we need to assure that they are gaining the skills; with older drivers we need to assure that they maintain reflaxes, vision, etc.
Why…. Nothings done about the drunks out there who are far more dangerous.
I frequently wish that during the license test , a check could be done to ensure that drivers are at least as smart as their cars, prior to being licensed. Also repeal the unwritten law that turn signal use is optional!
Plenty is being done about drunks. There is no shortage of DUI arrests.
I’ve been involved in 3 major car accidents in my life, and in every one of them, the other party was over 65 years of age. That isn’t to say they’re any worse than young, inexperienced drivers. That’s just been my experience.
The most accurate source for the competency of various categories of drivers is those who put money on it, the insurance companies. The highest rates are for the under 25 category. Most won’t even look at a stand alone policy for those under 18.
I would think that as much or more attention is warranted for the younger drivers. Great reflexes, no brains.
My previous employer used to require an advanced driver’s ed course (lasting 3 days) for every employee that had to drive in connection with company business. I am strongly in support of this, or at least mandatory driver’s ed refresher courses. I have also taken an advanced motorcycle rider safety course twice.
when 70% of the people claim they are ‘above average’ drivers, something is wrong. Especially when so few have had any training since high school.
Mandatory education, mandatory license testing every 5 years would go a long ways toward reducing the carnage caused by bad habits, inattention, “mistakes” etc.
Additionally, I am strongly in favor of substantially increasing the fines/penalties for right of way violations. An average of 59 people are killed in this state every year (source, KS DOT Division of Traffic Statistics) for the past 16 years by right of way violations. The fine? $90. Kill someone, pay a $90 fine. Do it again, pay a $90 fine.
This senseless killing needs to be addressed by substantially increased fines, which will increase awareness, sort of like MADD has increased awareness of the dangers of drunk driving.
I could go on for hours..about stop light runners, tailgaters, etc. But, my goal right now is to increase fines for right of way violations.
Is Drivers Ed required in high schools now? Observation says no, but I really don’t know.
No gster – Drivers ed is not a required course. It is an elective usually offered in the summer months with extra fees involved.SOME insurance companies offer discounts to student drivers who complete drivers ed but not all insurance companies do.
Thanks Julie. I know kids are piled on with requirements, but Drivers ed, which is a life skill, should be manditory; society would benefit as a whole.
I know, when I graduated in ‘94 I had to have 4 years english, 4 years math, 3 or 4 years (can’t rightly remember) science, 3.5 years history/social studies/civics, 1 year foriegn language and 1 year arts (band/choir/art). Nothing at all about drivers ed. I didn’t take it because my mother’s insurance didn’t offer a discount.
And I am a decent driver. Never been in an accident that was my fault and only 1 ticket in 14 years of driving and I was 19 at the time.
nobodies gonna force elderly driver to take extra tests. They all vote and anybody dumb enough to try would be voted out of office. Also aren’t a lot of elected officials over 60.
Now that I’m older, I just set it on “cruise-control” and curl-up and take a nap. I figure if I hit anything, they’ll wake me up.
If not, then my insurance is taped onto the windshield along with my address where to be towed.
What we should have:
1. Learners permit at 15. Must be acompanied by over-21 adult at all times.
2. Restricted at 16. Restrictions apply to hours, etc. Drivers test to get this might be just a little less strict than later.
3. Full license at 17 IF drivers ed passes and road test (stringent) passed.
4. Full license at 18 even without drivers ed. Stringent road test.
I am figuring on the faster reaction times of young people making up IN PART for lack of driving skills.
At the other end of life I am counting on wisdom to make up IN PART for slowed reaction times. Up to a point.
5. Mandatory jail time for every moron yakking into his cellphone while operating a vehicle.
Dependign on how you count, cars are the 10th biggest killer in America. This argues pretty strongly that _no one_ is competent to operate them; that we’re fooling ourselves when we say we’re a good driver. Self-driving car prototypes are already built in the mid 1990s. Where are the auto-auto-pilots?? When are we going to be able to hop into our car, punch the button for “work”, and go back to sleep?!?
Some of the older drivers ARE a danger on the roads, as much as the younger ones who think they own the road. I think older ones sometimes think the same.
I’ve noticed my own reaction times slowing considerably. I try to compensate for that by keep a good distance between myself and the car ahead, making sure I use my signals, and to not only check, but double-check traffic in other lanes when I change lanes. I try to be more aware of all the other cars around me, too. That doesn’t mean I won’t have an accident, but I do try a little harder not to.
Dingus is correct, the AARP has already expressed it’s opposition to any attempt tp “discriminate” agianst older Americans so it won’t happen.
V.L.R.B!!
Stand in any Wal-Mart parking lot and watch customers of all ages walking to their cars to prepare to drive away. It makes me wonder if at least 50% of all drivers should have their drivers licenses taken away.
But my big gripe is people who drive while talking on cell phones. It happens every day. Someone comes up from behind and tail gates … then speeds around barely missing side-swiping your car. Invariably they are talking on their cell phone and paying no attention to traffic around them.
I noticed a radio news report recently that said drivers on cell phones are equally impaired as drunk drivers. So would you prefer being crashed by a drunken driver or a driver on a cell phone?
My biggest pet peeve is people who do 10 miles under the speed limit and then they get mad at you when you pass them.
I agree that elderly drivers should have the same requirements that teenage drivers do.
There isn’t a day, that I drive the streets in Wichita, when I’m not cut off, tailgated, or forced to suddenly brake, because of the other driver! Most of them are female and mostly under the age of thirty. The also, have the habit of going at least 5 mph above any posted speed limit.
I guess it’s legal, as long as you don’t get caught.
I don’t see the OLDER drivers, causing that much of a problem. Yes, I know of some that shouldn’t be driving. But, there are worse drivers on our streets by far, than a few older folks.
Check it out, next time you drive to work!!
I would like to respond to the point made by JWink about being upset by, “people who do 10 miles under the speed limit and then they get mad at you when you pass them.” I am a (relatively) mature 16-year old driver with my permit. Yes, I tend to go about 5mph under the speed limit becausea) I am cautious. I know the statistics about the number of accidents caused by excessive speed. One of my friends died in a car accident last year because she was speeding and I can not describe how devastating it was to her family, friends and the community.b) I am not willing to risk a speeding ticket so some moron behind me who is running late can get to work on time.All I can ask is that JWink and everyone else that reads this will have a bit more patience on the road. You never know who is driving around you.
I would agree with a road test for elderly drivers at the time of renewal, but not a special class they would have to take unless they failed the road test. People also need to start reporting elderly drivers they see that are a risk- that forces them to get tested.
Most people will be involved in at least one major accident in their life, which that does mean that all of us have the potential to cause an accident- do not fool yourself into thinking that YOU are better- all it takes is a second at the wrong time. Elderly drivers tend to drive slower, which makes them safer.
I’m rather sick of hearing about the cell phone drivers. I have never had a near miss when I was driving while talking. Never. Because I pay attention especially close and get off the phone as soon as I can. Cops do it all the time talking on their radios. Those driving dangerously because they’re on the phone probably would drive dangerously anyway and not pay attention no matter what- they’re also probably the same ones who drive like maniacs.
I also agree that drivers ed should be mandatory and paid for by the school, but that was revoked because taxpayers were whining about it. SO which is it, safer drivers paid for by taxes, or bitching because people are getting killed behind the wheel? You know, these things will cost you the taxpayer money! People can’t seem to figure out if you want these things, you’re gonna have to pay for it in extra staffing for the DMV.
And no, I didn’t write that post up there, but I almost agree with my troll.
Most are women my ass. The ones who usually almost run into me are the men who are in really nice cars who think they own the road.
hehe….again “the victim”
David Testicles, again…the troll who has absolutely nothing of value to add to any discussion.
Pee,If I were like you and always looking for a handout and always blaming the world for my troubles…
I’d think that someone like me “adds no value,” too. People like you LOVE to be surrounded by other whiners and “victims.” People like you HATE to be told the truth.
There a probably quite a few older drivers that shouldn’t be driving and a lot of older drivers that are exceptionally good drivers.
What bothers me the most is when these little old men and women who can barely walk will get in their cars and zoom down the road 10-15 miles above the speed limit.
Being a safety professional, I heard about all of the excuses for poor driving among all ages.
I drive the maximum speed limit when posted if there are no other conditons like rain, snow, traffic, etc. impeding that function. However, in Wichita that means I will be passed 99.9 percent of the time because no one pays attention to their speed or just don’t care.
Cell phones? Yeah, they irk me. A very common sight these days is to see someone come out of their home or a business, nothing in their hands. The moment they get into their car and start it up, the cell phone goes up like there is a magnet in their ear. They then back out, pull out and on their merry one-handed driving way.
Why the heck can’t they talk before they get into the car? Just incredible how people can’t seem to do anything without a cell phone in their ear.
Christ, Nutz, isn’t it a little early for stalking P Mom?
Does your wife know about your fixation?
Gee, Nutzo, looks like you are stalking Pmom yet again there… and i have to agree – there are bad female drivers out there and there are bad male drivers out there – it is NOT a gender problem, it is a training problem. Now Julie, I am not sure where you got your license from, but when I got my license 13 years ago, here was the process – I lived in a rural county and could get a learners permit at 14 – BUT you had to take drivers ed in order to get the permit, and you had to have a certificate of completion in order to get the restricted license at 15. In order to get that certificate of completion, i had to pass a written exam, pass a driving exam, and have a certain amount of outside driving time with an adult in the car. Once I got the restricted, I could drive to and from school and work without an adult. An adult had to be present in the car at any other time (and by adult, I mean a licensed adult over the age of 21). At 16, I could get my unrestricted drivers license. And yes, that was here in KS, in Butler county… see, I had to have that little certificate of completion before they would even give me the restricted license…. and that would have been, well i guess 13 years ago, in 1994 (i actually took drivers ed over the summer between classes)
Aging drivers are not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that over 99% of today’s drivers have had absolutely no formal drivers ed since high school. Bad habits are learned and never unlearned.
My former employer used to require advanced defensive driving classes for all driving employees every 2 years. Accident rates dropped substantially when this was implemented.
How many people even on this blog can honestly claim they have had ANY formal driver education since high school????
We talk about LIFE testicles, it doesn’t make me a victim. As opposed to you who complains about nothing but..me. I suppose if your kids came to you because some kid pushed her down and scraped up her knee, you’d tell her to quit playing a victim.
Why do you bother to even come on here? You obviously think life is just perfect, you do not add anything to any discussions whatsoever. For some rich business guy, you sure do spend a lot of time on here trolling. Maybe if you weren’t such a jerk and opened up your life a little more, you’d get invited to actually go do things with real friends. I can almost promise you that if you ever had a government come do an Enron on you, and you had to actually get a real job, your fair weather friends would disappear quickly- because those are the kind of people YOU associate yourself with. Your degree would get you absolutely nowhere after something like that, and you just might have to work as a cashier at a grocery store for 6 bucks an hour. But I’m sure you would never complain.
At least I have an excuse to be on here all day, I can’t really afford to do much else.
good points raptor. I think they should require a REAL on-the-road test for ALL drivers. I might then make it more frequent above 70 (and below 21) to make sure of skills and reactions.
I would say bad driving is more about apathy and bad attitude than how driving was learned.
I could teach a driver’s ed class right now and about 90 percent of the class would not pay attention nor change their bad habits or attitudes the moment they walked out the door.
There are very few courtesies these days as well. Drivers will not slow down to let people merge nor will they acknowledge they are driving on residential streets where people have to back out of their drives.
I would say most people in Kansas and the rest of the 49 states have their “Pointing Licenses” and not their Driver’s License.” That is, they point the noise of their car and just go.
that should be “nose of their car”,not noise
My issue is with the damned fools and their motorcycles. They zip in and out and you can’t see them. They should have to have one of those day glo orange penants sticking up about 7 feet like they used to have for kids bikes. So people could see them.
JM, for once I actually agree with you, And yes, I also have an employer who requires additional formal training, so I have had training since the drivers ed i took in high school – but then again, I also always put my hands at 10 and 2, use my turn signals, check over my shoulder before changing lanes, etc and so forth – now I will admit to going 5 miles over the posted speed limit on highways, but not in town… unfortunately, kids practice what they see, and when they see mom or dad behind the wheel of the giant SUV cutting people off in traffic, and honking their horns and yelling at people an talking on their phones and weaving in and out of lanes and speeding, that is what they are going to do as well… I have never had a major accident, I will cop to a speeding ticket (or two) but both are over 5 years old, so I guess I am the exception, not the norm…
Chef…your gross generalization is both untrue and unfair. Not all, matter of fact, damn few motorcyclists behave in the manner you describe.
raptor – and the ones who do are called the ‘late’ cyclist. Thing is, a driver of a huge assault vehicle lives to kill some more. Like the bitch on her cell phone who tried to run me into the median barrier on kellogg last night.