JCC Should old people be allowed to drive?

Yes.Because someone was incompetent doesn't mean that every older person is.

 

Anyone over the age of 60 should be required to take exams to test their vision and reflexes every year. If you fail, your license is suspended until you can pass that test.

 

People under the age of 21, especially males, lack the cognitive skills for good judgment and empirically speaking are more reckless than anyone else. Not sure if they should be allowed to drive at all.

But as for the elderly, the ability to drive is a function of

• experience
• cognitive ability
• vision
• reaction time/reflexes
• neck flexibility
• arm and leg strength.

Everything but experience declines with age, and we all decline at our own unique rate according to our health and the settings on our biological clocks.

My guess is that people peak as drivers in their mid-to-late 50s, maybe in their 60s for healthier people. I'm sure someone has tried to plot that generalized point at which the benefits of increasing experience are overwhelmed by physical and cognitive decline, and people start to become worse drivers year-on-year.

There are tests for all these things. The AAA used to make a CD ROM that would let people self assess their functioning fairly comprehensively. Not sure what happened to that app or whether it ever made it online. But a vision test is completely insufficient to assess suitability for driving as of about the age of 70-75, depending on the individual.

 

A lot of states do have a vision screening test for all drivers, but it's not necessarily all that comprehensive. (Can you read this? Good you pass.) I do think there should be a screening, but saying that "old people" shouldn't be able to drive is a bit far. Taking someone's ability to drive is a big deal, that's a lot of independence you are taking away. I do think it needs to be done, but some disguntled DMV employee wouldn't be the best person to deal with such.

I don't know what age a more thorough screening should be done, because age isn't always indicitave of ability. I do think 60 is too young, maybe 70? 75?

 

Like others said, I don't think there should be a set age limit. At a certain age, physical evaluations (eyes, hearing, reflexes, attention span, etc) and an actual driving test should begin. Licenses should be renewed based on ability, not age.

 

There should be a reassessment test every few years. Florida sees dozens of car accidents and "silver alerts" all the time. But senior citizens are not the only people who should be reassessed. I've seen plenty of terrible middle aged drivers changing lanes abruptly without blinkers, tail gating in 20 mph school zones, merging without yielding, ignoring the rules of 4-way stops, etc.

In short, you drive around Disney World and you put your life in the hands of someone who thinks their GPS overrules traffic laws and common sense.

 

No one should be allowed to drive. Most of us suck at it.

 

I agree with harps - at a certain age people should be tested on actual driving skills again. My grandma is 80, still has her license, and definitely shouldn't.

In southern California, you are absolutely correct. I think about 20% of people here actually know the rules for a 4-way stop. It's unbelievable. No you can't just follow the person in front of you when they go!

 

Being elderly shouldn't matter on the whole. Perhaps at 75+ some should be retested for safety reasons otherwise there is no cause for ageism regarding driving rights.

 

People who complain about other drivers usually have lousy jobs. It's their way to blow off steam.

 

That's exactly it. No one here has been cut off in traffic by a lousy driver who nearly caused him/her to crash. It's all about our jobs being lousy.

 

Debo didn't say we don't encounter bad drivers, he said we don't complain about them.

 

Agreed, but I would take it one step further....as soon as you get your license, the physical evals and actual drivings tests should begin every four years.
If you get your license at 16, congrats...just be sure you can do it again when you turn 20.

 

If there's one thing JCCers do best, it's complain.

 

Well it's not practical to do road tests of everyone that often. However, could people at least come in and take an eye test, then do some kind of reaction time test as well as a written road rules test? Yes, probably.

Although now many accidents are caused by distracted driving, and there's no way to test for that. But we may as well limit the dangers as much as we can.

 

Old people are the worst!

 

The actual question is, should they be allowed to live?

 

put a bunch of old people in cars and let them kill eachother, battle royale style. kill two birds with one stone.

 

That's how I want to go out epic.

 

Hey - I'm sorta old...

Truth is, younger drivers are far worse drivers than older drivers AS A GROUP (insurance stats, I'm in the industry). The two groups have similar accident rates, but the severity is FAR worse for younger drivers - more severe injuries, fatalities and demolished vehicles. Teenagers are even worse than drivers 16-21.

If my mother ever seems unsafe to drive, betcha I'm going to let the DMV know they'd best retest her and if she's that bad and they allow her to keep her license, I'll hide her keys or something. In Washington, btw, they do mandatory retesting every so often but I'm not sure how often.