Putting Senior Drivers to the Test

Several weeks ago, my wife, Katherine, and I completed an AARP Over-55 Defensive Driving Seminar, and subsequent to that, I renewed my driver’s license at a DMV office. These two experiences left me frightened, frustrated and extremely concerned.

As a 70-year-old card-carrying member of the increasingly visible “senior citizen class” driving vehicles, I contend that something urgently needs to be done to improve the screening procedures for seniors who want to continue driving.

The physical, psychological and cognitive infirmities that I witnessed at these two sites scared the daylights out of me. Many of the senior citizens in the class and at the DMV were noticeably high-risk individuals who probably should be physically examined, made to take the driver’s handbook test and given the behind-the wheel test.

I don’t relish appearing as a traitor to my “class,” but I do know that tighter requirements are essential for seniors. Among my family, friends and work colleagues, the erratic and dangerous driving habits of their elderly fathers, mothers, aunts and uncles are a constant source of intergenerational amusement and horror stories. But maybe, just maybe, these conversations are indirect and subtle messages to me. Could my perceptions of the other seniors be projections of my own vulnerabilities as a driver?

We all know that driving is not a constitutional right, but too many seniors (including myself) seem to forget that it is a privilege that must be earned again and again.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become aware of simple but noticeable physical alterations and psychological changes. These changes have not diminished my basic health situation but have imperceptibly affected how competent a driver I am. For example, I have slower reflexes, decreased visual acuity, hearing loss, etc., all of which my doctors tell me are associated with the natural aging process.

I do not want to stop driving. But I also do not want to become a caricature like some of my acquaintances who mouth such inanities as, “I may be 73 years old, but I’m as good today as I was when I was 40.” And, most critically, I do not want to slip into becoming a driving hazard to myself or to others.

All this tells me that something must be done. I don’t care what the cries and clamor will be from senior citizen groups, lobbying organizations, political correctness gurus or anti-age discrimination coalitions; I only know that I feel a citizenship responsibility as well as an intergenerational ethical obligation to flag this issue.

Government and policymakers must become more demanding and rigorous in issuing driver’s licenses to seniors for the driver’s own personal safety and for the safety of other drivers and pedestrians.

Those 70 and older are already required to renew their licenses in person and to take a written test. I recommend that these drivers also be required to: take a physical examination and bring a clearance certification from their physician; have at least two notarized letters of recommendation from family members or physicians that attest to the senior’s ability to drive safely; show proof of having taken a seniors driving class within six months of applying; and renew the license every 18 months.

Seniors, let’s put the common good of safe driving above the individual hubris of expecting to drive as a continuing privilege rather than as an earned responsibility based on good health, good judgment, good citizenship and good driving.

Ronald J. Stupak is an organizational consultant who lives in Walnut Creek, Calif. E-mail: RonStupak@mac.com