You're old, you drive, you lose

A recent tragedy in Santa Monica, Calif., killed 10 people and left up to 45 others injured. This wasn't a mad gunman, terrorist attack, natural disaster or any other sort of epidemic. It was the result of a confused old man.\nWhy did 86-year-old George Russell Weller plow his car through a farmer's market last Wednesday? There is an investigation to see whether it was intentional, but this seems unlikely. Weller told investigators that he might have hit the gas pedal instead of the brake. \nPatti Yanochko, who was the coordinator of a statewide task force on older adults and traffic safety, told the Los Angeles Times, "Anecdotally, we have heard cases where older drivers have made that sort of mistake." \nThat's a big mistake.\nPolice also said that Weller recently damaged his own garage with his car. \nThis event has been raising concerns and questions about senior citizens on the road. Should they be allowed to drive, should there be regulations, and so on. But, first and foremost, driving tests for anyone over 70 need to be established. \nAccording to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 19 states require older drivers -- typically those over 65 or 70 -- to renew licenses in person, renew them more often or pass road and visiontests.\nBut this isn't enough. A driving test administered by a DMV official needs to be instituted in every state -- not just a renewal in person. A poll found on www.NBC5.com asked if seniors should be tested. Four percent (1,702 votes) answered no, while 38 percent (17,512 votes) said those over 65 should be tested and 34 percent (15,618 votes) think those over 70 should be tested.\nIn California, if this law would have passed, perhaps Weller's incident never would have occurred. NBC5.com also reported that in 2000 a proposal failed that would have required anyone over the age of 75 to take a driving test.\nThe bill was dropped due to senior groups protesting. \nI don't understand why this law isn't in effect everywhere or why there would be protesters. It is not prejudiced toward an age group, it is merely taking a safety precaution. According to www.seniorjournal.com, "Older adults (65+) have more crashes per mile driven than any other age group and are more likely to die in these accidents than any other adult age group." \nChecking whether a person is physically and mentally capable of driving is helping not only the others drivers on the road, but, of course, themselves as well. \n Currently, in some states only vision is assessed in these tests. However, www.seniorjournal.com found that these results are a weak interpreter of driving abilities because they do not fully mimic the demands of driving.\n When people age, things begin to slow down and fail, like vision, hearing and health -- this is not a mystery. Of course this is not the case with every person over 65 or 70, and many over these ages are very capable drivers. In those cases, they would pass a driving test with flying colors and shouldn't be concerned. \nBut some should be, like Weller. \nWeller is not a bad or evil person. He just should not have been driving. Maybe the only good that can be taken out of this tragedy is the prevention of future such occurrences if driving tests are properly put into action.