Accidents Waiting to Happen: The Elderly

Not too long ago I was looking at a newspaper from my first college I attended Umass Amherst. The front page story was about some student being struck by an elderly driver while bicycling to work on campus. It seemed to be of little consequence to me as I had few friends while I attended Umass. I went on to read how the young woman was a cleaning woman in the Southwest living area and had been in pursuit of her Bachelors Degree for some time. I looked again at the picture and it hit me. That is my friend Misty. I had seen her not two months earlier on a get together camping trip of a group I used to be an active part of. I reread the article this time paying full attention to the article. Apparently she had been struck by an elderly driver while biking to work in the bike lane. The old woman had crossed into the bicycle lane just at the right moment to strike Misty with her car. At the moment teen drivers still account for most of the accidents on the road but that is because there are more teen’s then old drivers. However, soon there will be more old drivers then young as the baby boomer generation turns into their Golden Years and fewer kids than ever are being born. Right now there are mainly just some highly publicized cases of elderly drivers getting into accidents. In twenty years due to modern medicine being as good as it is more old people than ever before will still be on the roads.

Please do not misunderstand me. I fully appreciate everything the generations before me have given up and sacrificed so we can live in the world we do. I am the youngster who thanks Vietnam Veterans for their service, I stop and help people on the side of the road with flat tires, I even help elderly women load things into their cars, but when that sweet old lady gets behind the wheel to drive home I can't help but smoke a cigarette sitting in my car before I too drive away. Now is the time to follow the example of the state of New Hampshire and test elderly drivers before letting them renew their cars registration. This issue is largely ignored by Senators and even the people in The House of Representatives, on State and National levels. One might ask why an important issue like this is not being discussed when not a year goes by that most states don't think about raising the legal driving age by a year or even two. There are several basic reasons why these issues are not even payed attention to. First is the elderly population in this country votes in a higher percentage than any other, offending them is political suicide. Secondly there are budget related problems. If we start telling people they cannot drive themselves around then something needs to be provided in the form of transport. The large reason this is unfeasible is that the elderly are everywhere. Providing all of them who lose their privilege to drive (and yes driving is a privilege NOT a Right) with even just transit to a grocery store and Wal-Mart (or the local equivalent) simply once a week would cost Billions of Dollars a year if not Trillions! The other option is burden families with elderly with the cost of a nursing home or the burden of driving Grandma to the store whenever she needs to go.

The last reason why nothing will happen is because despite the few young faces shown in The Houses and The Senates it is mainly a club for rich old white guys. (As of August 26, 2009, 1 Senator is in his 90s, 3 are in their 80s, 20 are in their 70s, 35 are in their 60s, 31 are in their 50s, 9 are in their 40s, and 0 are in their 30s. The median age is now 62.) The Elderly are the ones in charge of making these laws we need to protect us from them! Tell me that honestly Ted Kennedy (God rest his soul) or even Arlen Specter should be driving a car. These are two men I have the utmost respect for but if I saw either one in my rearview mirror I would pull off as soon as possible and not just because either could be mistaken for a zombie. (Driving Zombie Jokes aside though.) Quite frankly, the elderly are more of a hazard to themselves. They are the only people guaranteed to be involved. My last point is what do we do with these elderly drivers who by all rights have no place behind the wheel and get in accidents? Take the woman who hit and killed my friend Misty. What peace does it give me or any of her other grieving friends that a sweet old lady who should have had a driver’s test done will go to jail for the rest of her life? What does that accomplish? That is not what the American Justice system was designed for and brings no peace. Let it rest on the Senators and Representatives who have ignored the pleas and plight of their people. Who have ignored letters and emails on this subject from myself and many others.

For Once,

LET THERE BE JUSTICE