Driver's license for the elderly......?

Question

it seems that lately i've come across elderly drivers that seem to be having trouble driving(getting on the sidewalk, going the wrong way,etc...)and i was wondering if it would be better for everybody including the elderly to have driver license renewals every 6-12 months to check if they can still be allowed to drive,since some driver's i've seen are as bad as drunk drivers. does a program already exist? oh and i'm not picking on the elderly, just the ones that shouldn't be on the road anymore. looking out for my family. thanks for the comments and info.

Answer 1

NOOOOOOO, they should be required to take the tests annually and if they can pass it they they should continue to drive and no one should take away this right, if you need more information, just check out the (NHTSA) site.................

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 15- to 20-year olds.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 3,490 drivers in this age group died in motor vehicle crashes in 2006 and an additional 272,000 were injured.

Drivers age 15- to 20-years old accounted for 12.9 percent of all the drivers involved in fatal crashes and 16 percent of all the drivers involved in police-reported crashes.

Twenty-five percent of teen drivers killed were intoxicated. In 2002 (latest data available) the estimated economic cost of police-reported crashes involving drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 was $40.8 billion, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov ).

Among licensed drivers, young people between the ages of 15 and 20 have the highest rate of fatal crashes relative to other age groups, including the elderly. In fact, the risk of being involved in a fatal crash for teens is three times greater than for drivers age 65 to 69.....................

Answer 2

I think that the decisions are made by the elderly person's family. When they decide that the person isn't able to function well they have the license taken away. I do agree that they should be made to prove that they can still drive well, but I don't think that this type of change could occur because older people VOTE and would do everything they could to get this type of "inconvenience" from being passed.

Answer 3

I have noticed the same problem recently, with elderly drivers often pulling out in front of me without looking, cruising through red lights, etc.  I'm afraid the problem will only get worse as the population ages.

With the AARP lobby, no laws targeting the elderly will ever be passed.  I agree that any passable law would have to include testing for all ages, but 6-12 months would be too often & too cumbersome.  Ideally, we would have testing every 2 years for teenagers (16, 18, 20), then every 5 years until age 60 or 70, then every 2 years again.

This isn't meant to pick on the elderly only.  It's worth noting that teenage drivers aren't the greatest, either, as I have had them pull out in front of me without looking, too.  But we have lots of restrictions, such as graduated licensing, for them already.