Tragedy Calls Attention to Elderly Drivers

Re “Probe of Market Tragedy Continues,” July 23: In the 35 years I have been an insurance broker, I have handled many auto accident claims. Almost all of these involved younger people, who had to pay a higher rate. Older clients paid standard premiums.

It’s true that older people become less physically efficient, but they compensate in their driving. They drive less; they drive more slowly; they drive more carefully; they drive less at night. If it gets to the point that they shouldn’t be driving, usually friends, doctors and relatives encourage them to give up driving. Occasionally, we encounter a tragedy like the one at Santa Monica involving a senior driver, but the far greater driving menaces are young drivers, not seniors. Please do not discriminate against older people.

Alex Andres

Woodland Hills

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I note with alarm the various calls for different driving tests for older drivers. We are presently facing the prospect of tripling the registration fees to help balance our black-hole budget deficit. Imagine the additional cost of special-testing hundreds of thousands of drivers and the resulting chaos and traffic jams at the DMV locations throughout the state. It boggles the mind.

B.L. “Bud” Fink

Carpinteria

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It’s time to light two candles with a single match. It won’t be easy, but it should be tried. And maybe Santa Monica can be the first to try it. Restrict traffic on certain designated streets to smaller electric vehicles and bicycles. Let the elderly who can no longer drive big, heavy cars still be allowed to hold restricted licenses that allow them to drive golf cart-like vehicles.

Whether driving is a right or a privilege, it is pretty much a necessity. This would help keep the elderly mobile more safely and get more electric vehicles on the road -- and would even encourage more folks to take to their bikes.

W. Gregory Stewart

Los Angeles

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Because the split-second required to move my right foot to the brake pedal could mean the difference between life and death, I always brake with my left foot. This habit has the additional advantage of preventing me from ever accidentally accelerating with my right foot. After learning of the tragedy in Santa Monica and of an inordinate number of other accidents in which the driver accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal, I highly recommend this practice.

Ben Akerley

Los Angeles