Elderly licenses under review

INDIANAPOLIS -- A state lawmaker says Indiana might need to review its licensing system for motorists in the wake of fatal crashes involving elderly drivers, including one in Indiana.\nState Sen. Thomas J. Wyss, the chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee, said the recent tragedies could prompt a review of Indiana's licensing system.\n"That's enough to make me think maybe we need to re-evaluate this," said Wyss, R-Fort Wayne. "Are we doing the right things?"\nAside from the case of an elderly California man blamed for the deaths of 10 people, authorities in southern Indiana are prosecuting an 86-year-old woman they say fled the scene after hitting and killing a teenager earlier this month.\nState law requires residents age 75 and older to renew their licenses every three years, instead of on a four-year cycle. A state task force decided against additional requirements in 1999.\nAn advocate for older Hoosiers said the recent cases involving elderly drivers should not spark attempts to make it harder for Indiana's 264,298 drivers older than 75 to get a license.\nClifford Willis, a spokesman for AARP Indiana, said impairment -- not age -- should be the issue.\n"We would not want people to use this tragic accident as an occasion to call for unfair testing of older adults, simply because of age," he said.\nIn rural Warrick County near Evansville, police arrested Beetrice Carr, 86, on a felony charge of leaving the scene of a July 9 crash that killed Justin Flaherty, 14. She was released on bond and faces an initial hearing Aug. 4 in Warrick Superior Court\nIf convicted, she faces up to eight years in prison and a $10,000 fine.\nCarr is not being blamed for the accident itself. A boy who was with the victim said Flaherty stepped into the roadway. Police said they were tipped to her identity after she had her car's windshield replaced.\nIn Santa Monica, Calif., authorities might file manslaughter charges against Russell Weller, 86, accused of killing 10 people and injuring more than 40 others when his car raced out of control.\nWeller told police he may have stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake.\nBetween 1991 and 2001, traffic fatalities involving people age 70 and older jumped by 24 percent nationwide, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics.\nStatistics compiled by Indiana officials show that young drivers have higher fatal accident rates than their older counterparts.\nThose rates are lowest for drivers 35 to 70, then begin to increase for drivers older than 70.\nIn 1999, the most recent state numbers available, the fatality rate by driver age per 100,000 population was 36.3 for 16- and 17-year-olds, 29.6 for Hoosiers 75 and older and 14.9 for Hoosiers 35 to 44, according to the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.