If you have ever been in a vehicle with someone whose age affects their driving then you know what fear is all about. I am afraid for all those in other vehicles, pedestrians, and passengers of those who have impairments with vision, reaction times, and upper body movement that comes with age. There should definitely be some testing done at certain stages of life for everyone's safety.
Kay - 10 years ago
I do think it should be age-based, but I don't think it should necessarily focus on seniors exclusively. Between 40-60 one should be required to re-take a "Driver's Ed" refresher course - go over commonly made mistakes (four way stops, when to turn right on a red light, traffic circles, school zones, etc), a "signs" test and the eye test. 40-60 year olds are the most confident on the road, which can lead to complacency and assuming they are the ones who were right, not the teen or senior (when in a lot of cases I've seen, it's the "confident" driver that screwed up and the poor senior and teen are sitting there at the four-way stop thinking "huh? I thought so-and-so should go next"). It's the 40-60 year olds that I see speeding through school zones, flying through uncontrolled intersections because it's "usually" clear, jumping the gun on four-way stops - and if anyone in SK actually knows how to use a traffic circle I'd be shocked - I certainly barely understand the damn things! The mid-range age group is the most "confident" and the most complacent and would get the most out of a refresher course, a refresher course that would help keep them sharp as they aged into seniors - and that refresher course wouldn't be as far away in their memories as 16 years old is. And you're not cramming for finals at the same time you're trying to pass Driver's Ed, so you're likely to retain more! Heavy machinery operators have to renew their licenses frequently, but my driver's license lasts forever? Seems a bit lax. I couldn't get into university at 30 through a test I wrote at 16 - but I can drive a car because I passed a test 15 years ago? The car (and me) can kill someone if I'm too complacent (or even if someone else is complacent - I can be as aware as possible, but someone else's stupid mistake can kill me just as easily). My H2S only lasts 3 years, even if I haven't changed jobs, but my driver's license last forever, no questions asked? Really? A driver's license is a privilege, not a right (no matter how reliant on them we are) and we should be required to prove, more than once in our lifetime, that we are deserving of the privilege of a driver's license. If you passed at 16, there's absolutely no reason you couldn't pass at 40, 50, 60. If you can't pass, then you shouldn't have a driver's license - study and retake the test, just like you would have at 16. Will it take some time out of your day/week? Absolutely. But will you and everyone else on the road be a little safer? ABSOLUTELY.
If you have ever been in a vehicle with someone whose age affects their driving then you know what fear is all about. I am afraid for all those in other vehicles, pedestrians, and passengers of those who have impairments with vision, reaction times, and upper body movement that comes with age. There should definitely be some testing done at certain stages of life for everyone's safety.
I do think it should be age-based, but I don't think it should necessarily focus on seniors exclusively. Between 40-60 one should be required to re-take a "Driver's Ed" refresher course - go over commonly made mistakes (four way stops, when to turn right on a red light, traffic circles, school zones, etc), a "signs" test and the eye test. 40-60 year olds are the most confident on the road, which can lead to complacency and assuming they are the ones who were right, not the teen or senior (when in a lot of cases I've seen, it's the "confident" driver that screwed up and the poor senior and teen are sitting there at the four-way stop thinking "huh? I thought so-and-so should go next"). It's the 40-60 year olds that I see speeding through school zones, flying through uncontrolled intersections because it's "usually" clear, jumping the gun on four-way stops - and if anyone in SK actually knows how to use a traffic circle I'd be shocked - I certainly barely understand the damn things! The mid-range age group is the most "confident" and the most complacent and would get the most out of a refresher course, a refresher course that would help keep them sharp as they aged into seniors - and that refresher course wouldn't be as far away in their memories as 16 years old is. And you're not cramming for finals at the same time you're trying to pass Driver's Ed, so you're likely to retain more! Heavy machinery operators have to renew their licenses frequently, but my driver's license lasts forever? Seems a bit lax. I couldn't get into university at 30 through a test I wrote at 16 - but I can drive a car because I passed a test 15 years ago? The car (and me) can kill someone if I'm too complacent (or even if someone else is complacent - I can be as aware as possible, but someone else's stupid mistake can kill me just as easily). My H2S only lasts 3 years, even if I haven't changed jobs, but my driver's license last forever, no questions asked? Really? A driver's license is a privilege, not a right (no matter how reliant on them we are) and we should be required to prove, more than once in our lifetime, that we are deserving of the privilege of a driver's license. If you passed at 16, there's absolutely no reason you couldn't pass at 40, 50, 60. If you can't pass, then you shouldn't have a driver's license - study and retake the test, just like you would have at 16. Will it take some time out of your day/week? Absolutely. But will you and everyone else on the road be a little safer? ABSOLUTELY.