Road Test Bill for Senior Drivers

* SB 335, the Brandi Mitock Safe Drivers Act, comes before the Assembly Transportation Committee June 28; another step closer to becoming law. The bill establishes a minimum vision standard; a driver can no longer be legally blind and drive, while requiring periodic road testing (the first time since age 16) for seniors 75 years and older. Discrimination? Hardly. Statistics overwhelmingly support protecting our seniors and those around them with greater vigilance. Seniors are at highest risk for fatal collisions (the No. 1 cause of accidental death among this population) and this age group is the fastest growing driving group in the state. A lethal combination without safeguards like SB 335.

Driving when we are no longer able to do so safely because it is convenient or because we don’t have a bus stop in close proximity are reasons some give in opposing this bill. Is “being inconvenienced” to be given the same value as that of a human life? The 96-year-old man who struck and killed my 15-year-old daughter was merely going to the cleaners close to home. He had dementia and had suffered strokes. He never saw my daughter Brandi in the crosswalk, never found the brake and pleaded “no contest” to felony hit-and-run. A simple road test years ago would have saved my girl’s life. The DMV is the licensing agency and needs to monitor licensees more closely; the best way to do this is still a road test.

Let’s protect our seniors, save countless lives, young and old, and send a message (call or write) to Assemblyman Tom Torlakson (Chair, Assembly Transportation Committee, State Capitol Room 2003, Sacramento, 95814) to vote yes on SB 335.

MARK MITOCK

Woodland Hills