Elderly Drivers
(Editor’s Note: As lawmakers consider tougher regulation of teen drivers, it has paid little attention to another driving safety issue: elderly drivers. In this story, part of a special package on teen driving, we look at the argument for tighter restrictions and testing of older drivers.)
BOSTON - Sen. Brian A. Joyce is painfully aware there are no co-sponsors for his bill that would require drivers over 85 years old to retake vision and road tests every five years.
“My staff wanted to call it ‘An Act to Lose Elderly Votes,’” says Joyce, a Milton Democrat.
No one testified—in favor or against—Senate Bill 1914, aka an Act to Promote Safe Driving, at a State House hearing this fall. Even Joyce was out with a bad back. He submitted his testimony in writing.
Although the Transportation Committee had no audience when it considered Joyce’s legislation in October, it faced packed halls and passionate pleas at a hearing the same month on stricter standards for teen drivers.
Teen driving is an important issue. But Joyce suggests that senior drivers should be held to new standards as well.
Seniors have the second highest crash death rate per mile next to teenagers, according to AAA. The association’s Web site projects that by 2020, there will be more than 40 million licensed drivers over 65 in the United States, up from 18.9 million in 2000.
In Massachusetts, 12 percent (57 of 459) of those individuals killed in motor vehicle accidents in 2002 were in cars driven by people age 65 or older, according to the Governor’s Highway Safety Council.
Drivers aged 15 to 20, meanwhile, were involved in an average of 90 fatal crashes per year from 2000 to 2005, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The question of which group has the better or worse drivers has many facets. Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab, has gathered statistics that show most older drivers have some safer habits including more constant use of seatbelts and fewer instances of speeding, reckless driving and alcohol-related incidents.
The Agelab also found that seniors tend to be more cautious about when they drive, foregoing forays in bad weather or at night.
But a 2001 study by AAA found that drivers over 65 were 25 percent more likely to get in an accident than middle-aged drivers. Seniors were more prone to intersection crashes and can have troubles making left turns, driving in heavy traffic or at night.
Massachusetts requires all drivers to renew their licenses and take a vision test every 10 years—too little testing for drivers over 85, Joyce said.
As of May 2005, 11 states had age-based license renewal requirements, some starting at age 50. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit funded by auto insurers, says some states mandate regular vision and road tests; others required a doctor’s note certifying the individual is fit to drive.
The impetus behind Joyce’s legislation comes from personal experience. A few years ago, his family had to “gently suggest” that his father, age 86 at the time, curtail his nighttime driving because his skills had diminished.
“I think many of us have had this experience with our parents…been concerned, even afraid to ask them to stop driving,” Joyce said. “It’s their independence.”
Although Joyce considers his legislation a “pretty modest requirement,” other legislators are concerns about the bill’s social impact.
Rep. Frank Hynes, a Marshfield Democrat and a former member of the Transportation Committee, said that before he would support Joyce’s bill, he would need to see more compelling evidence from medical and geriatric professionals that aging can impair driving.
“It’s not something that’s unfamiliar to legislators,” said Hynes. “But no one is going to seek to restrict the licensure of an individual given what licensure means in our society—freedom and independence.”