Why the elderly shouldn't be driving....

[Durangobob]

:shock:

The man was getting ready to leave the weekly market's parking lot when his car rammed three or four other vehicles, then hit the six people near a peaches and strawberry stand,

Apparently this 79 yr old lost control of his car and plowed the local farmers market in florida. His excuse he stated was his gas pedal was stuck.

He sent six ppl to the hospital, and all of this could be prevented if the elderly were off the road. What they need to do is have all elderly once they hit 55, then at 65 retake their drivers test, and then at 75. No drive, no liscense

[shellmabell]

One proposed solution, in addition to regular road tests of elderly drivers, is improving public transportation or creating special senior transportation services. The way the senior transports work is the individual has an account with the agency and they provide rides to and from destinations for a small fee, sometimes sliding scale fees. EVERYONE will eventually be faced with the question of whether to continue to drive or not. This is a huge loss of independance and often a difficult decision to make. The tragic event in California again proves, that as a society we must take steps now to improve the quality of life for senior citizens in our country. Which in turn, improves life for all of us.

My two cents.....

[Durangobob]

8) Exactly right, it was recently stated on dateline that texas has the highest percentage of elderly traffic accidents. 43% of all accidents in texas are due to the elderely. That is a huge percentage,and should raise eyebrows, but it doesn't. I think because ppl view elderly as slow cautious driver, or when they think elderly they think of their sweet loving grandmother. Because we all know growing up when we wanted something our grandparents would give us everything, even if our parents disagreed. So the thought of elderly ppl being so destructive doesn't cross our mind, thus there is no need to enact special services to safely commute the elderly around town.
I agree w/ you tho bell, those are very simple ideas that can easily alleviate not only the amt of traffic, but increase public safety. currently in SM we have a "carts around town", a transit system that operates on cheap fares, and i see quite a few elderly taking advantage of that. Of course like you said.. losing the ability to drive is losing their indepenedance....