It is a problem, and the answer is probably periodic testing after a certain age. I'll be 76 next week, I still work full time, and spend a lot of time on the road on the job. I had my annual physical at the VA last week and got a clean bill of health. Unmedicated blood pressure was normal last year and even a bit lower last week. Even lost 4 pounds since last year.
As far as I can tell, my driving skills are as yet undiminished. Even my wife admits that, and she's my worst critic besides being a notorious back seat driver. I'm one of the lucky ones, I come from a good gene pool. My mother passed the driver's exam when she was 92, road test and all. He11, I'd crawl into a stock car again tomorrow if the opportunity presented itself.
HOWEVER, I know people 10 to 15 years younger than I who have no danged business behind the wheel of any vehicle. In fact, you could include some people of all ages in that. Drunks especially. (I rarely drink, anymore).
Part of it starts with initial training. I've been quoted in print stating that Driver Ed as taught by the public schools doesn't teach kids to drive, it teaches them how to pass the driver's exam, nothing more. The summer when our daughter was 15 and looking to get her drivers license in the fall, I just happened to have a 30 acre field of wheat stubble. I bought an old Camaro, and our daughter and I spent many an hour, securely belted in, exploring the limits of that old Camaro. And learned a lot about oversteer, understeer, bump steer, roll axis, roll center of gravity, how to spin a car out to avoid something worse, and other interesting stuff in the process. By the time she got her license, I felt she was prepared for public roads at least a little better than the average bear. Maybe even ready to crawl into a stock car. I'd have built her one, but she showed no interest although she's always been interested in high performance cars.
A couple of years later, she spent time in Germany as an exchange student. The male head of her host family was a professional driving instructor. Correct me if I'm wrong, Dave2, but in Germany a prerequisite for obtaining a driver's license is taking a course from a professional driving instructor at an aquivalent cost of some $1500-$1800. There isn't a politician in the states that would touch that one with a ten foot pole, although there's a lot of justification for it.
The problem with elderly drivers driving is complex. Someone like me who spends a lot of time behind the wheel daily probably retain their driving skills longer than someone who putts around town a time or two a week. People age at different rates, acquire different health impairments at different ages, even emotions can enter the equation. I had a commanding officer, a Lt. Colonel, in the Marine Corps who once scrubbed a mission he was supposed to lead. He was pi$$ed off about something unrelated and was astute enough to realize and admit he was in no frame of mind to be behind the stick of a jet fighter.
Didn't mean to write a book, but if someone can come up with an answer to the problem, they'll be doing a lot of people a favor.
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