Some Older Drivers En Route To Accidents Some Say Elderly Drivers Should Take A Driving Test Once A Year

Shar Stapleton would rather be a passenger in her 83-year-old mother’s car than ride with most other drivers.

Lorrie Hultz is aghast that her 75-yearold mother owns a driver’s license.

“If she was to get behind the wheel right now, she could kill herself or someone else,” the Hayden Lake, Idaho, woman said.

Last week, an 82-year-old man who police say had a history of driving problems ran into a pedestrian in a crosswalk in Sandpoint.

Police say Samuel Wagner didn’t even know he had hit anyone until officers told him.

Some say incidents such as this show that elderly drivers should be required, after a certain age, to take a driving test once a year. Others say that would be age discrimination.

The Spokesman-Review asked readers their thoughts on the issue.

“I think all senior citizens should have to take the written test and the driving test because I believe if a lot of them took the driving test, they wouldn’t pass it,” Hultz said.

Idaho law requires drivers to have their licenses renewed every four years. The only test required is an eye exam - no matter the age of the driver.

Employees at the Licensing Department do ask some people to take additional road tests if they appear shaky or frail or have other medical difficulties, said Patty Fox, a Kootenai County driver’s license examiner. It’s up to their discretion who they ask, she said.

Ray Hilding, 84, was asked to take the road test when he went to get his license renewed last month.

“I had no objections to it at all,” he said, but he added that he doesn’t think a law should be passed requiring all older people to be retested.

“There are a lot of drivers above 70 years old who drive just as well as any age group,” he said.

And driving is very important to them, he said. “Most people, if they lose their driver’s license in their older age, that’s really the end of the world for them.”

Stapleton points out that without a public transportation system, Coeur d’Alene offers few options for senior citizens who can’t drive.

“Who’s going to take them to the doctor?” she asked.

Pauline Short didn’t want to tell her 85-year-old mother that she couldn’t drive anymore. But the Post Falls woman feared for her mother’s safety because of the dizzy spells that swept her.

After two years of procrastinating, Short finally told her mom that driving was off-limits.

“It was hard because she is a very independent person.”

Short said she would like the state to require testing after age 75. That way it wouldn’t be up to family members to force their loved ones into a difficult change.

Anne Klowden of Moscow says older people should have to come in for renewals only every four years, but all should have to take a road test. “My concern is for my children who will be out there on the road with them.”

But one elderly man pointed out that teenagers are involved in far more accidents than older folks.

He told a reporter to quit picking on old people. “I’ve probably driven farther in reverse than you have forward.”

, DataTimes