Comments on: Should the elderly be allowed to drive?

By: Toa

Toa — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 19:09:27 +0000

The question itself is to broad to many variables are involved so everyone goes off on tangents. . It should read more like……….At what age should drivers retire at?

By: Toa

Toa — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 19:06:42 +0000

The question itself is to broad and everyone goes off on tangents. It should be more like……….At what age should drivers retire at?

By: ronlybonly

ronlybonly — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 18:57:32 +0000

I agree completely. Yes, we should get dangerous drivers off the road. But dangerous driving is not necessarily a function of age, gender, or race. Any criteria we use to determine whether a driver is dangerous or not needs to be applied equally to all people.

By: Siana

Siana — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:22:03 +0000

what does it matter what you are listening to? young people and the elderly both have high risks of accidents. the difference is that while teenagers are learning to become better drivers, elderly people decreasingly get worse and should at one point not be allowed to drive.

By: Someone you dont know

Someone you dont know — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:14:15 +0000

I think that an elderly person on the road driving slow and taking their time creates more dangers for others on the road. First off they have a much slower reaction time and most of them have a medical problems and wear glasses (they dont always go for eye exams, and you have what 5 years where you have to renew the licence and in that time frame how many stubborn old people go for the eye exams?? i’m sure there sick of being proded and poked at there age so I don’t blame them for that!) so for a young person with a boom box, I don’t think that they are a concern, that doesn’t slow down their reaction time. And as for the texting. they made the law NO TEXTING. By the time you are 70 you should have to go through tests that cant determine your ablilities to be safe on the road and if you fail to meet the test requirements then it’s time to give up the licence!
Sorry to be so blunt but this is my opinion and I don’t think it’s fair that us “young” people get a bad rap of being bad drivers when the elderly are just as much to blame.

By: Liberaltarian91

Liberaltarian91 — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:57:06 +0000

It's not old drivers I am worried about.
It is college students who drive under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

By: Jay

Jay — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:07:51 +0000

You can handle it, but some can't.

By: Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:39:21 +0000

I don't think taking away drivers licenses totally is warranted, but there's lots of physical and mental deterioration that occurs as the body ages which afflicts the driver's ability. Since that occurs in different levels, but with significant average effect on public safety, some sort of more frequent observation of the aged population's status might be warranted. It could be as simple as vision tests (more frequent past 65-75) or it could be less invasive like a voluntary drivers course which would reduce insurance rates if completed (and probably signal to those that can't pass that they should drive less, if at all).

By: papadawg

papadawg — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:49:15 +0000

My Pa at 65 was an old goat who couldn't even find his glasses on his own head. He could barely walk with a walker.

I am over 65. I am in a thousand times better health than Pa ever was. I have taken care of myself, beat my alcoholism – (I have been sober for over thirty years) – I no longer smoke as I quit that over twenty years ago.

My wife and I cruise around this country in our Dodge Deisel pickup towing our fifth-wheel trailer (all 7 tons of it). I have more miles under my belt than a lot of OTR truckers and the last time I was in a fender-bender I was 28 years old.

I have regular medical checkups -(something Pa never did)- And I hope and pray that when the time comes to stop driving I will do so willingly.

So, what makes YOU the expert on my driving or not?

By: Loren

Loren — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:52:31 +0000

Drivers over 65, along with new teenage drivers, have the highest accident rates per miles driven. So, I don't think it's discrimination based on age…After 75, the risk of driver fatality increases sharply, because older drivers are more vulnerable to both crash-related injury and death. Science shows that their reaction times are longer, which could mean life or death in a car. Thus, I think after 65, drivers should be required to take a driving test every 3 years.