Complaints About Unsafe Older Drivers

Re “Weed Out Bad Elderly Drivers,” Voices, Feb. 8:

As a social worker serving the elderly, I agree with Jerry Hermes that the problem of unsafe elderly drivers is one that is not adequately being addressed by the community at large. Therefore, families are left to deal on their own with this difficult situation.

However, his proposed solution that each person over age 70 must be forced by the state to pay for an annual physical examination in order to prove his/her fitness for driving is discriminatory on the basis of age, and therefore probably unconstitutional. Furthermore, it is patently discriminatory against the elderly poor, the preponderance of whom are women. The result of his proposal would mean that only those elders with adequate financial means would be able to drive. His proposal would place an undue fiscal burden on an entire class of people already struggling financially.

a Although his concerns are valid, the solution is not so simple as he proposes. Failing cognition has many causes, some of which are remediable and which can be detected (and treated) through specialized assessments and testing, such as those provided at our facility and countless others throughout the state.

Elders should not be presumed to be incompetent simply because of their advanced age.

HEIDI RECHTEGER

Older Adult Programs

Didi Hirsch Community Mental

Health Center, Culver City

* Now come on, Jerry Hermes; were you cut off on the freeway by an elderly person? Would you have written your article if it was a teenager? Since you are intent on weeding out bad drivers, why not go all the way? For starters:

* Raise the driving age to 18. More than half the teenage accidents will be prevented.

* Anyone found driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs should permanently forfeit his license.

* All handicapped drivers should submit to an annual driving test.

* Any car over 10 years old should be barred from usage unless certified by a licensed mechanic that it is fit for freeway driving.

* Any driver without a license should be jailed.

* Statistics should be compiled by ethnic groups. Any group found to be more accident-prone than the average should be subject to more rigorous testing and licensing.

This is just for starters. By the time the list is complete, it would be a pleasure to again drive the streets and freeways. If the elderly are such terrible drivers, how come insurance companies don’t surcharge them as they do younger drivers?

MARVIN BIERS

Tarzana