Too Old to Drive

It is a well known fact that when you get older, you are more likely to experience certain health problems. With age comes many different diseases and illnesses that range from Alzheimer’s to Parkinson’s. So why do people not bat an eye when they see elderly people behind the wheel? Has society come to terms with the fact that if you can pass your drivers license test at any age, you can continue to drive efficiently and safely the rest of your life? While there still are many elderly people who can drive effectively at their old age, the risk of allowing all senior citizens to drive is far too great. In order to ensure the safety of everyone on the streets, anyone over the age of 65 should be required to take a drivers license test based on their mental and physical capabilities.
Loss of motor skills is common among people when they get older, which increases dramatically after age 65. Motor skills are functions that involve the precise movement of muscles in order to perform a certain task. In a psychology study where 24 young adults were tested against 24 senior citizens, the evidence suggested that in addition to general slowing, the elderly have troubles with motor skills because they execute movement sequences as a series of individual movements and not as a combined pattern. When people execute individual movements, it makes it harder to multi-task which is a necessity while driving on the road. Having to control brakes, gas, steering, lane changes, turning, head checks, and many other assortment of tasks while driving, takes a toll on elderly people with diminishing motor skills. Another major contributing factor to deterioration of motor skills is change in cognitive function. One basic cognitive function that is severely...

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...you would have to restrict their freedoms. While there are many exterior solutions to this problem, the most feasible option would be to assess each person's physical and mental capabilities each year to see if they are still okay to drive. By adding a “driving physical” test to a yearly checkup done by doctors, they could assess if the patient is capable of driving. If the patient is seen as not capable to drive then the doctor should file a recommendation for their patient’s license to be suspended. While it would be a process that would be hard to enforce and that senior citizens wouldn’t want to do, if implemented correctly it would be extremely effective at getting dangerous drivers off the road. Overall, senior citizens should be required to get a checkup to see if they are okay to drive so they don’t harm themselves or anyone else on the road.