Elderly Drivers Essay Example For Students

Elderly Drivers Essay By: Cassie RindtSenior citizens should be off the roads! Anyone over the age of 65that cannot handle the responsibility of driving a vehicle should not beallowed to drive. To weed out these people every person once they reachthat age should have to retake their written and road driving exams thatyear, and every year after that. This will dramatically minimize theamount of accidents caused by the elderly. My grandfather is an example ofa bad driver over the age of 70. He is 78 and still drives although I donot believe that he should. He had a bad work accident (not involving avehicle) about a year and a month ago that has affected him greatly. Hehurt his arm really badly and now it is even hard for him to turn the key,or put on his seat belt imagine what hes like driving it. For instanceone time when he was driving me out to my dads house he was driving aboutspeed limit, but on the wrong side! He was driving on the left had side ofthe road maybe he thought he was in Europe? I dont kno w what he thought,but all of a sudden we met another vehicle and grandpa wasnt moving over. It wasnt until the other vehicle was only _______ feet away from our truckthat he moved other almost colliding with it. Luckily no one was hurt, butthat experience could quite easily have ended differently. From now onwhen my grandpa is taking me out to the farm I drive! Most senior citizensthat should not be driving do not think that they are bad drivers. Theymay think that they have gotten worse as the years have passed, but inactuality their driving is dangerous. These people need to be proved tothat they should not be on the roads as drivers but only as passengers. Ifretaking their road test is the only way to do this than thats the way itshould be. Elderly drives are a hazard to all drivers. They cause accidents allthe time. For example in September of 2003, an 88-year-old woman lostcontrol of her car and killed an elderly couple in Roseville, Minnesota. The same day in Santa Cruz, California, an 85-year-old driver injured fourpedestrians. In July, an 86-year-old driver killed ten people when hisvehicle plowed through a farmers market in Santa Monica, California. Theseare just a few examples of many. All the time you read new headlines thatsay: Elderly driver causes accident, 80 year old woman failed to stop ata red light, 3 dead, etc. Quality Planning Corporation releasedstatistics from over one million drivers across the United States. Thestatistics show that drivers over 81 years of age are involved in 27reported accidents for every estimated one million miles driven. The datacompiled by QPC revealed that the most accident-prone age group is 16-24,after which accidents drop from 28 to 16 for 21 to 30 year olds andcontinue to decrease until the 61-70 age bracket, at which point theaccident rate starts to climb back up to about the same rate as that of theyoungest drivers.1 Those statistics are about the same as they would bein Cana da. Given that information proves that elderly drivers are a majorcause of accidents across Canada and America. Even though the elderlydrivers cause around the same amount of accidents as does a 16 to 20 yearold, they are at more risk of fatality and injury in an accident. A person65 or older who is involved in a car accident is more likely to beseriously hurt, hospitalized, and more likely to die than younger peopleinvolved in the same crash. Fatal crash rates rise harshly after a driverhas reached the age of 70. Romeo And Juliet 9 EssayFrom the age of sixteen to sixty-five, about fifty years, there aremany changes in the laws regarding driving and automobiles. These changesare sometimes not recognized by the senior drivers, therefore causing moreaccidents and violations by elders. For example the speed limit fordivided highways in Saskatchewan is now up to 110km/h instead of the old100km/h. My uncle who is seventy years old did not know this, and peoplebegan to pass us and we slowed down traffic. Following the speed limit isa good example of how elders have a good chance of causing accidents. Ifan elderly person is driving way too slow and a semi comes up behind them,they have to go through a lot of gears in order to slow down to the samepace. If they do not slow down in time they may rear end the slow vehicleor have to use an emergency break causing damage to the semi. To learn allthese new rules and regulations there are courses for seniors to take. However, most seniors do not recognize that they have a problem driving anddo not see themselves as a hazard on the roads. They believe that theyshould not have to retake a course and they know what they are doing. Many elders may think that putting an age limit on their driving isdiscriminatory. This is not so because it is not like this law is banningall drivers over a certain age, it is just banning certain people thatshould no longer be driving by testing them fairly. It is no differentthan failing a sixteen year old or a twenty year old when they take theirroad test. It should not be considered as age discrimination becauseeveryone will be old at one time if they live that long. Everyone knowsthat with living there comes getting old and eventually dying. If theelders feel that they are being discriminated towards because of their age,then thats stupid because the people trying to fight them not to drive arealso going to be old in the upcoming future and will also have to retaketheir test. Making this new law would be no more discriminatory than thedrinking age, age to get drivers permit and drivers license, and the agethat you are allowed to be in high school until. Too many accidents are caused because of elderly drivers not knowingwhat to do or not being able to do things properly in regards to driving avehicle. Making people over the age of 65 retake both their written androad exams once a year could solve this problem. If a person is 70 orolder and is still capable to operate a vehicle properly then what is thebig deal if they have to take a test once a year. They should not beworried. If they are one of the ones that are not able to drive the waythey used to then it will be good for everyone, not having to worry abouthaving them on the road as a danger. My grandfather knows that his drivingskills have decreased quite a bit, but he does not seem to understand thathe should actually not be on the road. He is a danger to all peoplebecause his hearing is bad, his arm doesnt work very well, he has a hardtime seeing at night, and he has poor reflexes. If he had his licensetaken away and was off the road I would feel much safer and would worrymuch less for him because I am scared that when he drives that he will getinto an accident. 1 Statistics from: (http://www.qualityplanning.com/news/030929-Older%20drivers.htm)