Good and Bad Drivers Come in All Ages

As soon as the news report came in about the 86-year-old whose driving error killed 10 people and injured about 50 in Santa Monica, the backlash against all seniors began.

On talk shows and in Internet chat rooms, younger people began blaming older drivers for all of society's ills, with seemingly every critic having a story of a gray-haired motorist who almost killed someone. Never mind that we all could also cite at least one case where a teenager or soccer mom or truck driver or cell phone user almost killed someone. Today, the only bad drivers are the ones with wrinkles, driving the four-door sedans.

One Internet site had a poll filled with questions loaded against seniors and headlined, "Too Old to Drive?" Any guess as to the results?

Several stories in the mainstream press included a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistic that drivers over the age of 70 make up approximately 9 percent of the total U.S. population but account for about 14 percent of all traffic fatalities.

None of the stories, however, included the follow-up explanation of that statistic. That is, when the average 75-year-old and 35-year-old are involved in crashes of the same magnitude, the senior is more likely to die simply because his body is less likely to be able to handle the impact.

The Older Adults and Traffic Safety Task Force, a 35-member group which spent two years studying older drivers in California, found that with motorists 75 and older, 21 die for every 1,000 who are injured in a crash (when all are wearing seat belts). For younger people, the rate is about five deaths per 1,000 injuries.

As California Highway Patrol Commissioner Dwight "Spike" Helmick said in December when discussing the task force's report, "Older bodies typically can't take the stress of a crash."

So the statistic is a bit deceiving, but many people still are using it to try to restrict or take away the driving privileges of older people.

Among the suggestions being tossed around is to test everyone over 70 with a behind-the-wheel driving test, each and every year. Helmick has suggested road tests for all drivers when they reach 75.

These suggestions have good intentions, but they would cost a fortune in a state that has an abundance of seniors and a dearth of government funds. And most importantly, they ignore evidence that we all age differently. Some middle-aged drivers have lost more of their sight and hearing and reflexes than some 80-year-olds.

Rather than creating new restrictions, the state should focus on improving the system that's already in place to make the roads safer. For one thing, anecdotal evidence says the Department of Motor Vehicles needs to dramatically improve its system for responding to people who report bad drivers.

One Sacramento man struggled with the DMV for about six months in an attempt to have the agency test his 90-year-old father, who was showing signs of Alzheimer's disease but refused to give up his keys. The son finally solved the problem himself by selling the car and convincing his dad to move to an assisted living community.

The state also should implement the recommendations of the Older Driver Task Force by making larger traffic signs, improving public transportation and increasing public awareness of the responsibility of all drivers to periodically reassess their abilities.

We should not diminish the tragedy of what happened in Santa Monica, where a driver's apparent confusion over the gas and brake pedals led to what the police chief described as "the single most horrific, devastating scene of tragedy I've ever witnessed in 30 years of law enforcement." Our hearts and prayers go out to the people who were killed in this terrible accident.

At the same time, we must not let the actions of one bad driver speak for the entire senior population, and we should not rush toward age discrimination just because some younger people think they own the road.

David Kline is a Sacramento native who has been writing about seniors' issues since 1991. He has served as Spectrum's editor for the past five years — a period that has seen the paper receive awards from the California Newspapers Publishers' Association and National Mature Media Awards program.