Seniors Driving Essay -- Elderly Drivers Dangers Driving Old

Seniors Driving   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Courtney Caldwell, a writer for Road and Travel Magazine, stated in one of her articles that, â€Å"My mother, insisted her driving skills were as sharp as ever. However, after a few life-threatening trips to the grocery store as her passenger, I knew she had to stop driving. She was driving dangerously close to the curb, her reaction time was poor and she was missing stop signs and traffic lights. Her driving was so bad that I forbade my 32-year-old adult daughter to ever ride as a passenger with her†. (roadandtravel.com) Ms. Caldwell is referring to her mother, an elderly widow, who must drive, as she has no other means of transportation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In America today, more and more people are driving each day. Currently, there are more cars on the road now, then at any point in America’s past. With all of this new traffic, more and more accidents occur everyday. The group second most responsible for these accidents is the group of drivers age fifty-five and older. â€Å"Currently these people make up twenty five per cent of the driving population, and account for eighteen per cent of current auto accidents†. (aarp.org) With all of these accidents, there is still no restrictions or limitations placed on a person, age fifty-five and over’s license. It is my opinion that, at the least, restrictions should be placed on licenses for all people age fifty-five and older.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Currently across the United States, there are very few laws regarding the elderly and driving. In Florida a new law states that people over the age of sixty-five must pass a road test. Florida is the only state to implement such a measure. With the exception of Florida, every other state still puts its elderly drivers at risk.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Nelson the president of the American medical association said that, â€Å"A woman in her eighties in good health may be a safer driver than her twenty year old grandson who happened to be on pain medication for an injury†.(aarp.org) As we age, our bodies age too, and as a result of that we lose some of the most important senses that we use to drive. The most important sense to drivers is vision. â€Å"More then fifty per cent of people age fifty-five and older have some sort of problem with their eyesight†.(aarp.org) These problems can make it difficult to see at night, and it can cause them to have difficulty judging distances. Another useful sense... ...is program might be successful at teaching senior citizens how to abide by the traffic law, that is all it does. It still does not prevent senior citizens from getting into accidents.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As more and more drivers are on the road each day, we need to be ever cautious of our fellow drivers. One such group of drivers is those who are aged fifty-five and older. Since they are getting older, their ability to drive safely has diminished. Senior citizens are also more likely to be severely injured or killed in an auto accident. By age, they are the second biggest accident group. Studies have proved that the 55 ALIVE driver-training programs were not effective in reducing the number of traffic crashes. Therefore, license restrictions are the answer. The times of day that senior citizens drive and the distances they can drive should be limited. Senior citizens that choose to continue driving should also be made to undergo routine medical exams to test their vision and hearing. An attempt should also be made to expand the ability and lower the cost of public transportation. By doing this, we can protect the lives of our senior citizens, and reduce the number of accidents on the road.