If Elderly Are Road Problem, What's the Cure?

MA is probably the only state in the nation that relies on police officers for road duty called "details." These are lucrative after-hours (off-shift) jobs that put thousands extra into the pockets of the average patrolman. A police officer can make a lot or a little just by standing next to an electrical company truck and watching traffic.

Something went terribly out of whack in the MA city of Weymouth a couple of days ago. A five-year veteran of the police force became the latest victim in what seems to be a spate of elderly accidents that break windows, at best, and leave fatalities at their worst.

In this case, according to WBZ-TV Boston, and the New England News Network, a young police officer, 34, was "working a detail" to make a little extra for his young family -- all his kids are under 10 when the driver of a small pickup, leaped out into traffic, nearly causing other accidents, and pinning the young officer to the utility vehicle where he was working traffic.

The utility workers pulled the young man down almost instantly, but it was too late for the Iraq war veteran. He was another victim in a list that goes back months in the state of MA to where a grandfather, out for a summer stroll with his four-year-old granddaughter, saw her cut down in a crosswalk by an 83-year-old driver (who, it turns out, was also responsible for the death of her husband in another accident years ago that was ruled an accident).

In each case, people have asked why? Why? Why has this happened? And it makes you think. It makes you wonder. It makes you ask, have we been too lenient on our older drivers? We put kids who turn 16 through hoops to get their licenses and then they are tightly controlled until they approach their 18th birthday (number of kids in a car; when they can drive, who has to be with them to drive after a certain time). Is it time to do the same to our elders?

No one can deny the statistics! The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has published studies through the years that show the two groups most responsible for accidents and fatalities are teens 16 to 19 and elders over 75 or 80. In case one, kids lack the judgment and experience to deal with the situations they may find themselves in (skids, hydroplaning, who knows?). In case two, it may just be a case of decreasing abilities and poorer judgment.

Someone once wrote "inside each adult, there's a child waiting to pop out!" which is probably more true today than ever before. People want to remain kids forever, to the point of moving back in with Mom and Dad, even into their 50s. So, is it any wonder that our elders think that they can defy time and aging, and just keep on driving?

In the Weymouth, MA case, the pickup driver involved has had a clean record in more than 60 years of driving. It just took that one accident and it was all over. His perfect driving record is gone, as is his license and now he is facing motor vehicle homicide charges? Now, how sad is that? About the only thing sadder was the hearse today that took a young officer to his rest and left a young family without a dad and a recently retired police officer dad, proud that his son had picked the same department, without a son!

Maybe it is time to start yearly testing of drivers over 75 (we all will get there, hopefully) and maybe it's time to bring doctors into the mix who will indicate that the drivers they treat are becoming too impaired to drive.

Who knows what the answer is? The cause probably has as much today to do with technology and modern medicine than anything else, as well as a generation that doesn't want to give up what it considers a right and freedom without a fight.

Given today's medical technology, lifespans have increased and folks have never felt better. This, in turn, leads to a feeling of invincibility behind the wheel. Folks, who only a generation ago would have turned the driving chores over to a wife or child, now routinely get behind the wheel where they have no place being (case in point, a driver in a local parking lot who stopped in mid-turn because another car was pulling in to a space across the row. It took two turns before the older driver was able to go ahead on a wobbly course -- for the record, there was more than 20 feet between the older driver and the cars she was afraid she would hit).

Did she realize her predicament? Plainly, her judgment is shot, but will she give up driving? That won't likely happen either because she feels good and still believes she's 55 and may even feel like it. She was more likely close to 80, but still felt good and that gave her the feeling she could be behind the wheel. That could be very well attributable to medical technology that makes people feel healthier longer and thus skews their attitudes and some automotive technology that makes cars easier to drive.

No one seems to have done a study on this, but it seems likely one of the causes.

No one wants to admit it's time to slow down that aging is robbing you or your ability to react quickly; to use proper judgement; and to even see properly. This is probably the most likely reason we see 93-year-olds involved in multi-car crashes who tell police that the car just jumped ahead; their feet weren't near the gas. The same is true of elders who run into houses or stores or wherever. It is a sad testimony to the end of what could have been a bright life that's now dulled by this tragedy.

So, what do we do? I guess it's up to our state legislators to listen to the experts -- and not the lobbyists (the elderly have some of the most powerful lobbyists in the nation -- and step up to require eye-testing and maybe yearly road-testing, maybe more, who knows?

Just as we put our kids through justifiable hoops to earn the privilege to drive (it is a privilege and not a right), maybe it's time to do the same to those over 80 or 75. That's what the statistics have been saying for years and only the young have been regulated because they have no lobby; now it's time for elders, too.

In an effort of disclosure, the author of this piece is over 61 and has been driving for 45 years, having written about cars for more than 30 of those years.