Are rules on older drivers restrictive enough?
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Jan Anthony of Marion (left) brought her mother Faye Birky of Cedar Rapids along when Anthony renewed her license at the driver's license office on Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, in Cedar Rapids. Birky, 81, started driving in the 1960s and stopped in March 2011 when her children asked her to. Anthony walks with a cane, and had to take a road test to renew her license. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)
Today, about 34 million drivers are 65 years old or older. By 2030, the federal government projects, 57 million drivers will reach this standard retirement age. That’s about one-fourth of all drivers.
The concerns of this aging driving public are wide-ranging, not the least of which is the safety of all motorists. So, earlier this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration initiated some solutions. Among them would be requiring that each state have a program to improve older driver safety, protecting doctors from lawsuits if they report medical conditions that prohibit a senior citizen from driving and the requirement that driver’s licenses be renewed in person.
While some states are more lax than others, Iowa does require drivers 70 and older to renew their licenses every two years, instead of the standard five years. And license issuers are always on the lookout for potential problems.
The result, she says, is that the IDOT does its best to accommodate older drivers, even sending testers for on-site road tests in small towns where they live if they’re not used to driving in a city such as Cedar Rapids. The IDOT also can implement restrictions, such as limiting a driver to certain hours of the day or specific neighborhoods.
Read the story linked above for more details. Do you think Iowa’s rules on older drivers are appropriate? Should they be even more restrictive, for the safety of all motorists?
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Based on experiences with my parents, I think Iowa essentially handles this issue well. However, there is one problem and it can apply at any age – the eye test.
If an applicant fails the eye test they can still get a drivers license with a note from their eye doctor. Those notes are too easily obtained. I know of at least one legally blind person with a drivers license.
I will say from personal experience with a member of my extended family that IMO the DOT does a terrible job. The family member in question was in his early 80′s, and was in an accident in which they ran a stop sign and t-boned another vehicle, thankfully no one was hurt. The officer working the accident requested that he submit to a driver’s license re-examination.
Needless to say that person failed the driving test FOUR times, one of the main reasons included failing to check mirrors when backing or changing lanes,. This was on every driving test, not to mention the fact this person has apparently backed out of parking stalls on at least three occasions causing an accident.
After the four driving test failure, their license is finally pulled. So the relative writes a letter of appeal to the DOT asking for their license to be re-instated and says that they only need it to get around Cedar Rapids. So the DOT in their infinite wisdom grants the request and puts restrictions on their license for daytime driving and only within a 8 mile radius(CR). Duh those are the hours and within the area where this relative got into all the accidents and near misses to begin with before those magic restrictions from the government! It boggles the mind that my kids had to re-take the driving test until they passed every portion, but an older relative who couldn’t even do that got a free pass which was used until the next big accident they were in and the rest of the family finally stepped in and took away the car before they killed someone.