People above the age of 75 must take a driving and vision test

Retesting Elderly Drivers: Ensuring Road Safety

For a long time, there has been discussion about retesting old drivers. This dialogue has included senior activists, legislators, and children with elderly parents. Because of longer life expectancies in the elderly, this is likely to continue for a long time. Because of the rise in life expectancy, the population of elderly drivers is growing by the day. According to the Federal Highway Administration, there were more than 20 million vehicles aged 70 and over on the road in 2007. (west port news, 2010). There is variance in the state driving laws. Most of the elderly driving tests involve the eye and driving exams. Other States may perform vision and other tests like physical fitness and mental changes for the elderly after every five years. This allows for the checking of the health conditions of the old people that may have an impact on the ability to drive.

The Effects of Aging on Elderly Drivers

Aging has several effects among the old people. Different skills are necessary for safe elderly drivers. Elderly driving can be diminished by the physical and mental changes that occur among the old people. Some of the changes that occur include; the response to time becomes slower, the ability to focus or concentrated for a long period of time, vision and hearing reduces and also the strength may decline.

The Need for Retesting Elderly Drivers

As much as the people should be given their driving freedom, elderly should be tested because, with low vision and hearing problems, less strength and poor concentration can lead to risking a whole society into accidents. The elderly should employ young people to drive them when they cannot manage to drive themselves to ensure their safety and the safety of the society in general.

Risks Posed by Elderly Drivers

According to the research that was conducted by Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), old people have usually involved some road accidents that young people cannot get involved in. Some of the accidents like angle crashing, merging clashes and overtaking are usually common among the elderly. Unable to yield the right of way is a mistake that is conducted by most elderly drivers while driving. Young people are rarely involved in road accidents, unlike the old people. The old people always misjudge after seeing a vehicle whether to proceed or wait, this failure to make instant decisions lead to accidents. Others with poor vision fail to see the vehicle and decide to proceed, hence causing an accident. In addition to this, there are those elderly drivers who cannot hear another vehicle coming and may decide to proceed.

The Importance of Testing Elderly Drivers

Boston Globe article in the year 2009 started that drivers of the age of 75 and above were involved in nine fatal crashes in New Hampshire while in Massachusetts there were 32. This was according to the federal statistics. During the renewal period, Washington, D.C., requires a vision test and states that a response test may likewise be regulated beginning at age 70. A rehearsing doctor must guarantee that the candidate is physically and rationally equipped to drive. Beginning at age 75, it is necessary for drivers to finish a composed test and a street test.

Safeguarding Road Safety for All

Connecticut ought to likewise find a way to guarantee everybody’s security out and about. It took various rapid deadly crashes for the state to change the laws relating to high school drivers, and we trust the state ought to require testing for elderly drivers previously extra fatalities happen on our streets.

The Deterioration of Health in Elderly Drivers

At the age of 70 and above, old people’s health deteriorates and becomes weaker. Drivers at this age usually do not have the strength that is required on the road. According to the survey that was conducted seventy-three percent of 3,763 people who responded said that they were greatly concerned by drivers of the age above 70. They said that a test should always be done to prove that someone is capable of continuing to drive. More than 70 percent of the respondents said that they felt unsafe when they were being driven by a driver of the age of 65 and above (Morton, 2013).

The Challenges Faced by Elderly Drivers

The survey realized that young drivers were being worried about the increasing number of the aged drivers. They said that most of the aged drivers had lost vision and they could no longer hear. This puts them at risk of causing an accident at any time (Morton, 2013).

Deterioration of Cognitive Function in Elderly Drivers

Aged drivers mostly fail driving tests and exams. The functioning of the Brain declines as people get old. This leads to a slower rate of responses hence blunders. This was according to researcher’s cognitive tests. The ability to change tasks and keep the focus on what somebody is doing gets worse as years move. It is very difficult for them to look around and take complex information within minutes (Paul, 2011).

The Importance of Retesting Elderly Drivers

In conclusion, elderly drivers should take the driving tests and exams to ensure that those that are on the road will minimize the accidents caused. It is not easy for some people to recognize their weaknesses until they are told. They may think that things are just normal as before, but the body undergoes changes as people get old. Vision, hearing, response to reactions, and body fitness are among the tests that elderly should be given before the renewal of their licenses.

References

Shinar, D., & Schieber, F. (1991). Visual requirements for safety and mobility of older drivers. Human factors, 33(5), 507-519.

Stutts, J. C. (1998). Do older drivers with visual and cognitive impairments drive less? Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 46(7), 854-861.

Dellinger, A. M., Sehgal, M., Sleet, D. A., & Barrett‐Connor, E. (2001). Driving cessation: What older former drivers tell us? Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 49(4), 431-435.

Badenes, D., Garolera, M., Casas, L., Cejudo, J. C., Zaragoza, S., Calzado, N., & Aguilar, M. (2017). Relationship between neuropsychological tests and driver’s licence renewal tests in Parkinson’s disease. Traffic injury prevention, (just-accepted), 00-00.

Siren, A., & Haustein, S. (2015). Driving licences and medical screening in old age: review of literature and European licensing policies. Journal of Transport & Health, 2(1), 68-78.