Elderly deadly behind wheel
 

SHILOH, Ill. - After an 84-year-old driver plowed through an elementary school lunchroom this week, killing an 8-year-old boy, his mother pressed lawmakers to bar the elderly from getting behind the wheel.

"We very much support a mandatory limit on the driving age for seniors," Amanda Wesling wrote in a missive directed at driver Grace Keim, who authorities say was en route to a driving class at a senior citizen's center Monday when she struck Ryan Wesling.

Wesling's plea raises new questions about how old is too old to drive, an issue state legislatures continue to grapple with in the wake of similar tragedies in recent years. While many states have enacted or are considering tougher testing for older drivers, they're weighing those changes against the rights of millions of older people to have the independence a license allows.

Among the incidents prompting calls for change:

• In November, an 89-year-old man whose car hurtled through a farmers market in California in 2003, killing 10 people and injuring more than 70 others, received five years of probation because a judge deemed him too ill to go to prison.

• Last August, a sport utility vehicle driven by an 89-year-old man plowed into pedestrians and vendors at an open-air public market in Rochester, N.Y., injuring 10 people.

• In October 2005 in North Dakota, an 87-year-old woman on her way to a doctor appointment smashed her car into the hospital's lobby, injuring five women.

At least two dozen states and the District of Columbia have laws singling out older drivers for special attention, from required road tests to vision examinations, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

In Connecticut, there's a legislative push to require automatic retesting of anyone over 75 who has had more than two wrecks in a calendar year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In New York, a pending measure would halve to two years the renewal period for anyone over 70.

"Different states are doing different things, but they're addressing the issue," said Anne Teigen, a research analyst for the NCSL. Still, she says, legislatures are trying to balance safety concerns against the unwavering fact that older Americans want to drive.

Illinois has some of the nation's toughest restrictions on older drivers, joining New Hampshire in requiring a road test for renewals after age 75. Illinois also is among at least 15 states that have an accelerated renewal schedule for older drivers, requiring renewals every two years from ages 81 to 86, and then every year after that.

Democratic Illinois state Rep. Kurt Granberg says setting an age for drivers to hand over their keys wouldn't be appropriate because "everyone's different." But he says he wouldn't be surprised if Ryan's death prods lawmakers to revisit the state's requirements for older drivers.

Advocacy groups for the elderly urge states not to overreact to each incident, noting that accidents happen in every age group and that taking away an older person's license could rob them of their independence.

"The issue is not age; it has to do with the person's physical and mental limitations, and that goes beyond age," said Beverly Moore of Illinois' AARP.

Older drivers, she says, still tend to be more cautious behind the wheel, and family members can be involved in helping decide when a driver should give up the keys.

Studies have shown that vision, reaction time and other driving skills can diminish as drivers age.

Statistics from the Insurance Institute show that older drivers generally are as safe as other age groups until they reach 75, when they tend to have more accidents. Drivers 85 and older are about as likely to be involved in a fatal crash as those ages 16 to 19, but they're more likely to die than others in car crashes because their bodies are frailer, according to the institute.

Keim's license was up for renewal March 3, her 85th birthday, and her driving record shows no citations, according to state records. Investigators have not said what caused her to drive up a dead-end drive and never stop, hurtling through Shiloh Elementary's cafeteria, killing Ryan and injuring two schoolmates.

While sympathetic to Ryan's family, 67-year-old Joan Juergens considers his death "totally a freak occurrence" that shouldn't require stiffening Illinois' licensing requirements for older drivers.

"I don't think you can broadbrush one age group and say it can't drive anymore. It's unfair," Juergens said.

Others aren't so sure. At 66, Mary Baum says she wouldn't mind state lawmakers taking a fresh look at Illinois' licensing protocol after an elderly aunt of her husband's flunked a drivers license test, then admitted to the family that her vision was failing from age-related macular degeneration.

"Something has to be done," Baum said. "Some are qualified to drive, some are not. And I would not want to be on the road if I'm not."

I suppose these aren't the same people that feel interpretable laws are good.

I don't quite understand your stance, but I agree, a hard age limit is not a reasonable idea.

After readnig the first sentence, I'm curious how old that mother must be. Pushing 105, I'd have to assume.

My stance, is that the people who claim that "The issue is not age; it has to do with the person's physical and mental limitations, and that goes beyond age," and "everyone's different" are certainly not the same people that step up and say that a large man who can function on a .2 BAC, yet gets thrown in jail b/c of his breathalizer being above .08. Same thing with medical marijuana. They are called pot smokers. Like Jeb Bush, one of the biggest drug war advocates, claiming that his daughter's drug problem is a personal and family issue. Oh the irony baffles me.

With this issue, I do and always have supported seniors having to take driving tests once they are 60. If they pass, keep them on the road. If not, they can't drive. Driving is a privalege, not a right. They seem to forget this.

Well, first off, .08 on a 400 pound dude is the same as on a 100 pound dude, its .08 percent of the blood and takes size into account, its just that it would take more alcohol for the big guy to reach it. Tolerance is the deciding factor in how drunk you are at any given BAC, and I don't know of any way to fairly test for tolerance.

But how on earth do you know the overall political stance based on one article on one issue? Oh yea, you wear a tinfoil hat and assume that everybody is out to get you. Is it totally outside of the realm of possibility that any of the people in the article might think that reasonable drug laws are a good idea?

I'd love for you to find one politician that will publically state that .08 is a worse idea compared to testing tolerance.

When I referred to a "large man", in my mind, I was thinking of highly-tolerant people.

Yea, because there is no good way to test for tolerance.

Roadside tests seem to work pretty well. How bout those that are too drunk to drink that register a .06? What do we do about them?

Personally I think sobriety tests are bullshit, if you are totally sober but nervous, on the side of a busy ass road, with a pissed off cop with an axe to grind, your ass is failing.

F3lix, everybody hates you because you think you are smart.


The only time people argue with you is when they are drunk, as I am, and finally let their barriers down to let you know so.

So, from your vantage point, people are arguing with you, when in reality drunk people realize you're a fucking moron and are willing to express it. Sober people realize it's too much hassle to even deal with.

SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU'RE A FUCKING IDIOT.

I wouldn't go so far as to claim f3lix is downright "not smart". A little overenthusiastic and undereducated on some of the topics he expresses a polarized opinion on, yes, but not "stupid". At least he's thinking.

I don't hate f3lix, but I wouldn't have sex with him either.