Should senior drivers take a yearly driving test?

[mattc4000]

Yes!!! Absolutely they should.  Why should you automatically maintain the right to drive if you do not the ability to do so.  Clearly, concepts like reaction time and sometimes confidence wanes as you age and your vision and reflexes changes.

[lbryanwf]

I say mandatory driving test every 6 months (why wait a year for chaos to happen?) for all pot smokers, drinkers, partiers and takers of mood altering street and/or prescription drugs. And since several studies have confirmed that the highest accident rates are caused by those between the ages of 16 and 25, lets throw them in the pile too! Heck, lets just drug test, and driving test EVERYONE every 6 months. I'd feel safer, wouldn't you? After all it's for your own good!

[velvet53]

I think this is something that needs to be done. I am seeing a lot of accidents involving senior drivers that are driving. For the safety of themselves and others a yearly test is needed.

[Tresbn00]

I think that if we want to go down this road(tic), rather than singling out seniors, everyone should take a yearly driving test.  Senior's tend to drive differently because their reaction time has slowed, people under the age of twenty five are easily distracted and don't have the experience driving in various scenarios, in-betweeners can be preoccupied with family problems and work stress.  Lawyers, doctors, insurance agents, real estate agents, etc, all have to complete continuing education requirements to make sure that they are safe in public...why not make it mandatory for people driving a two thousand pound weapon? The state revenue would be tremendous as well and could lead to lower taxes.

[DeliriousKris]

I definitely think so!
My great-grandmother is 100 years old, and while I don't think she has a license anymore...when she was in her 90s she was still driving around and she was going blind! She could have killed herself and people out on the road!

[crh55449]

I think that once you hit a certian age you start to lose some motor skills. they should take a driving test but not every 5 years and just a basic one without the parellel parking

[acurtsinger2]

teenagers cause more accident then do the elderly...the teenagers are the ones who need a yearly driving test

[falcon9]

teenagers cause more accident then do the elderly...the teenagers are the ones who need a yearly driving test

I disagree; teenagers need to re-test at least every six months, (just because they do generally tend to be more reckless).

[lorettahknox]

I think if there are issues there should be monitoring.Too many people have been hurt by these impaired drivers. If a person has physical impairments that make them not 100% why should the rest of us have to maimed or hurt because someone refuses to accept their impairment. They should be tested yearly or semi-annually after a certain age.

[pjlicari17]

Everyone is different so setting an age up to re-new the license is not a bad thing!  But, how about making it every 5 years for EVERYONE!!  THIS way there is no age discrimination and it would keep everyone honest!   A LOT can happen when a person turns 15 (or whatever the age is now) and this way a person will stay honest with there tickets and there insurance!  I think it will save lives AND promote jobs also!

[ktheodos]

I think so too....it will make all of us safer....though to be fair, they shouldn't have to pay for it

[vickysue]

Well i will be 69 soon. i have never had a ticket., have never driven while drinking, never done drugs. But i know what i cannot do and that is too drive at night. I have night blindness and cannot read signs. So i do not drive. I would be willing to take a drivers test. Written and otherwise. But i can tell you right now the one thing that scares me is some of these kids. Who ever taught them too drive did not do a good job. And since i live in N.M. one of 2 states that give illagels  a drivers  lic. They just drive like they are in Mex. and it is scary, having driven in Mex. myself. I truely belive they should not be able too.

[falcon9]

I think so too....it will make all of us safer....though to be fair, they shouldn't have to pay for it

If they don't pay for the priviledge of being a licenced driver, (and it is a priviledge, not a 'right'), then taxpayers would have to foot the bill.  I'd be against that and if they don't want to pay to requalify to drive, they don't get license.

[albefish]

The worse drivers I have seen in my town are young people. Let's give the "mature" people of this world a break! Don't assume because a person is a certain age the cannot drive. Most of these comments are rather biased toward the Senior Citizens.

[falcon9]

The worse drivers I have seen in my town are young people. Let's give the "mature" people of this world a break! Don't assume because a person is a certain age the cannot drive. Most of these comments are rather biased toward the Senior Citizens.

Both age groups were addressed as containing the most deficient drivers needing requalification.  You can look up the accident statistics yourself however, the topic of this thread concerns senior drivers, (others interjected teenaged drivers as a significant tangent).  One could argue that everyone, at every age, be re-tested every 5 years, (or some other interval), because the abilities & condition of a driver could change between license renewals.