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Elderly Drivers Can Kill?

:spock: You cannot help but wonder if the elderly should be allowed on the road. I am not just talking, this kind of thing has even happened to me before. The reflexes and coherent state of some of the elderly is not quick enough for road safety. What do you think?

From CNN:

SANTA MONICA MARKET TRAGEDY

The 86-year-old man whose car plowed into a crowded farmers' market in Santa
Monica, California, killing 10 people and injuring more than 50, might face
manslaughter charges, police said. The crash has raised some concerns about
the ability of elderly drivers to handle a car after eyewitnesses described
the driver as confused. "The two most [auto] accident prone groups in the
United States," CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta says, "are teenagers and people who are
more than 65 years. And you do get more accident prone with age. That's what
the safety data will suggest."

Kill Drivers Elderly

Hmmm, I have seen some elderly drivers that can still keep sharp and alert while driving.  But there are others I begin to wonder why they still drive.  I think that some of the elderly people should be tested or evaluated to make sure that they can still handle driving a car.  

Back some years ago, in the town my parents live in, an elderly woman mistakenly hit the accelerator instead of the brake launching her car into the front windows of a convience store.  I also used to work a factory that many older women work at.  There are a couple of the women that work there really don't need a license to drive a car.  One woman thought her car was in reverse and drove her vehicle right into the front office of the factory.   Another elderly lady pulls onto the highway and sits in the oncoming traffic lane, while waiting to get across the highway.  

In cases like those and even with the one in California they do need to revoke driver's licenses or require a coordination test or something every year to make sure that they can still be alert behind the wheel.

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This one is a really tough call. (Maybe cause I'm getting up there?)  My mother decided at 60 (when she got her license) to give up driving at 70 - because she said she wanted her wits about her when she made the decision, and it was set in stone so when she turned 70 there was no thinking about it - and she stuck to her guns. And that's a good thing but
I come from a small town very few alternatives.  If we want our elderly off the roads we have to get more involved in getting them to the grocery store, shopping for clothes or even out for a drive. Just cause they are 90 doesn't mean they want to stare at 4 walls 24/7.  I've seen a lot of really bad drivers that are just getting mail, groceries etc.  How do we take care of that without making them seem like a burden?

Kill Drivers Elderly

I was thinking about this... what about if the government paid for half of their taxi fare, then they could hire a taxi wherever they need to go if the family can't at the time.
[offtopic]deidre46, please update your profile so that frog can disappear.[/offtopic]

Kill Drivers Elderly

A lot of what I read here that elderly drivers have done, also happen to younger drivers, like mistaking the accelerator for the brake and thinking you were in reverse when you were actually in drive.  I have thought I was in drive and backed up by mistake myself.  I am not yet elderly. ;D  

I think we need to be careful about what we label as being caused by elderly drivers.  Because someone is old when they do something stupid behind the wheel it doesn't mean it is directly a result of their age.  

Since we have laws against age discrimination in the US, if we want to test elderly drivers every so often, we need to also test younger drivers at these same intervals.  I don't know about the laws in other countries.

By the way, there are mechanisms in place to safe guard against an elderly driver who shouldn't have a license continuing to drive.  For example, if they have an ailment that makes it dangerous medically for them to drive this is supposed to be reported by their physician.  We can't say you must be fully able-bodied to drive or you would need to take licenses away from paraplegics as well.

Also, statistically, younger drivers newly licensed are far more dangerous than elderly drivers.  You just don't see the same media coverage.

Elderly Drivers Can Kill?

Those are some good points Tenaheff. So then the question here should be... whom do we fear more?

Elderly Drivers or Young Teenage Drivers?

Hmmmm... I might actually go with the Elderly I think  :-/

Elderly Drivers Kill

I go with the younger drivers myself.  The elderly can be frustrating and sometimes do stupid things, but they don't drive as agressively as the younger drivers do.  How many old people do you see driving 90 MPH down the highway weaving in and out of traffic and tailgating you if you don't move over the second they come up behind you?

Also, how many of them are driving under the influence or drugs or alcohol?

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Actually I mean to say that I would rather be a passenger with an Elderly person, but it came out wrong because I asked whom do we fear most. Yes, I agree with your points.