The elderly and driving

[Janice]

I've long felt that the elderly should be required to take a driving test after a certain age. A couple of years ago, an elderly woman hit the gas instead of the brakes in a supermarket parking lot near my home and slammed a young man into the wall, killing him.
My elderly father-in-law died in a fiery crash on Cape Cod, and my father was becoming a danger on the road himself.
The following story is sad and only reinforces what I've believed for years.


Car Plows Into Farmers Market

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (July 17) - Authorities were investigating why an 86-year-old man's car plowed through a crowded farmers market, killing nine and injuring up to 45 others - and whether the driver was competent to be behind the wheel in the first place.

Police said Russell Weller told them he may have hit the gas pedal instead of the brake Wednesday, hurling victims into the air as his car careened down a street closed to traffic.

''Mr. Weller and his family want to express their deepest sympathies to the victims and their families of the tragic accident earlier today,'' Weller family attorney Jim Bianco said in a statement Wednesday. ''This was an unintentional and unfortunate accident.''

Eight victims were pronounced dead at the scene and a ninth, a 50-year-old man, died later at a St. John's Hospital, spokeswoman Barbara Bishop said. Fourteen others were critically injured.

Weller was not arrested, but authorities were considering whether the case was ''manslaughter of some type'' and investigating whether he was qualified to drive, said Police Chief James T. Butts Jr.

''There may be some negligence as to his capacity to drive safely,'' Butts said, although he added that Weller, of Santa Monica, has a valid driver's license.

Weller was taken to a hospital for a blood test and initial results found no traces of alcohol or psychoactive drugs such as antidepressants and hallucinogens.

Mary Roney, who has lived two doors down from Weller and his wife for 30 years, said he has never had any trouble driving and she did not know of any health problems.

''A more careful, gentle, loving person you'll never find,'' said Roney, who described him as active in the community, including serving on a library board and tutoring students at Santa Monica High School.

Butts said he did not have an estimate of the car's speed. Witnesses said Weller's 1992 Buick was moving very fast down the three downtown blocks of Arizona Avenue that were closed for the street market.

''Sixty miles per hour and it wasn't slowing down. It was flying. And then people down, dead and everything,'' said David Lang, manager of a shoe store along the market route.

''I heard a car just hit, bang, bang, bang,'' said Mojgan Pour, 38. ''I heard people screaming. By the time I looked, I never even saw the car. I tried to help a man and he died while I was helping him.''

Weller left police headquarters by late afternoon. Walking unsteadily with a cane, he hugged and smiled at people who picked him up from the police station. He declined to comment to a reporter.

The market, which takes place Wednesdays and Saturdays, bisects oceanside Santa Monica's popular Third Street pedestrian promenade and is near the famous Santa Monica Pier. It draws thousands of shoppers and was slated to close just as the incident occurred at 2 p.m.

The nine dead - five women, three men and a 3-year-old girl - were not identified. Police said 20 to 30 people had moderate or light injuries. They were taken to four hospitals by a fleet of ambulances and rescue helicopters.

A witness, Bahram Manahedgi, 50, said one person was on the hood of the car when it finally came to rest after the incident. A woman's body was crushed beneath the vehicle.

Manahedgi said that when he went to pull the driver out, ''His eyes were open and he was alive. I said, 'Do you know what the hell you did?' He said, 'No.' I just opened the door, I pulled him out.''

A crowd gathered around the car and ''wanted to beat him up,'' Manahedgi said. ''I said, 'He's an old man, leave him alone.'''

AP-NY-07-17-03 0533EDT

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

[Janice]

*double post*

[BrandonS]

I guess people should have to take a driving test every year once they reach a certain age. I just feel sorry for the living victims, the families of the victims, and the old man who had the accident. My Mom is 83, and is having more accidents than she used to, but I don't know how she'd get around if she had no license. I'm a thousand miles away and can't help.

[Mysty Eyes]

The latest that I have heard is that they found evidence at the man's home that the wall of his garage had been hit by a car twice in the past. Now... whether or not this man was the driver is still to be determined. It could have been his wife, or someone else.

I work less than a block from where that accident happened. Several of my co-workers witnessed it, but none were hurt. I heard the car tires screeching as I sat at my desk.

Not a fun day.

[¤I Love Clay Aiken¤]

Originally posted by Janice
I've long felt that the elderly should be required to take a driving test after a certain age. A couple of years ago, an elderly woman hit the gas instead of the brakes in a supermarket parking lot near my home and slammed a young man into the wall, killing him.

My mother has always felt that way about ederly people, and now, being a driver myself I feel that way too.

[Chocoholic]

I also feel that senior citizens should have to take driving tests every year or so and have their license revoked and keys taken away if they can't pass a driving test and a physical examination. I don't know how people can say that teenagers are the worst drivers. Personally, I feel a lot safer in a car with a teenage driver than I would with an elderly driver.

Driving is NOT a right, it is a priviledge.

[dlemond]

The thing that gets me is that because they are old, the elderly are hardly held accountable for anything.

Is this guy going to jail?
Is his life changing in anyway now that this has happened?

On the other side 9 people are dead, 9 families are devastaed and dozens of friends are are heartbroken.

He might as well have walked down the street with an uzi - I think that is the only way they would hold him accountable.

And even then they might say, "oh he's old, he didn't know what he was doing."

You should have to pay for your mistakes when people die- accident or not.

Young or old.

[Chocoholic]

Originally posted by dlemond


You should have to pay for your mistakes when people die- accident or not.

Young or old.

I agree. I hope this guy gets punished somehow. He took nine lives, including that of a three year-old child. He should be held accountable.

[BrandonS]

Originally posted by Snoopy
I agree. I hope this guy gets punished somehow. He took nine lives, including that of a three year-old child. He should be held accountable.

From what I've heard, his entire life has been exemplary, including charity work. If this is all because of advanced age and failing powers, and there was no intent, and no negligence (at least on his part), how much should he be punished? It seems to me he shouldn't have had a license.

[dlemond]

Originally posted by BrandonS
From what I've heard, his entire life has been exemplary, including charity work. If this is all because of advanced age and failing powers, and there was no intent, and no negligence (at least on his part), how much should he be punished? It seems to me he shouldn't have had a license.

No negligence? What are you talking about?
Try using the brakes. He forgot how to do that?
For f---s sake, a monkey could do that!

And boo-hoo on the exemplary life.
Nine people are dead.
Nine.
His life is almost over and he took nine.

If the Pope shot up a supermarket I think he should go to jail too.
(or in some way be accountable)

Make an example in some way in telling old people they can't just do as they please.
Something has to come out of this.

[Janice]

10/26/02 - When Should the Elderly Stop Driving?
By State Representative Cele Hahn

Sometime in her late eighties, my mother-in-law announced that she would no longer drive her car.
She explained simply that she’d been driving for decades without an accident and she didn’t want to break her safe driving record. So, she just quit.

My mother, on the other hand, terrified the officer who took her out for a driving test after she had inadvertently let her license expire when she was about 80. My mother said that the official yelled at her so often and so loudly that she was mortified. The official said that she’d never been on the road with such a bad driver.

Needless to say, my mother did not get a new license.

The first way is the best way, I think.

But many elders don’t want to give up their licenses, even when family and friends know they should. Who should decide? It’s often an emotionally charged issue for the drivers, who fear loss of mobility or don’t realize their shortcomings. But, it’s a safety issue for the rest of us.

"Driving in Massachusetts: When to Stop and Who Should Decide," a study by the U Mass Boston Gerontology Institute and Center, reports that older drivers are likely to experience an increased accident rate per mile (though they drive fewer miles) and are at a greater risk of dying in that automobile accident.

Moreover, the report continued, "Data also suggest that older drivers are at fault a disproportionately high percentage of the time when they are involved in accidents."

About three years ago, the American Medical Association suggested that doctors notify their state department of motor vehicles if patients have medical conditions that could adversely affect their driving abilities. And the Academy of Neurology suggested that doctors assess their Alzheimer’s patients every six months.

Surveying doctors, law enforcement officers, and people over 50, the Gerontology Institute found that all three groups agreed there should be periodic tests of skills as people age, that there should be driving reassessment in Massachusetts and that an age for that reassessment should be determined.

That was the easy part. When it got down to details about how often reassessments should take place and in what form, or at what age they should begin, there was less agreement.

Vision tests, road tests, and mental health assessments were most often suggested. Other criteria noted as being important included alertness, flexibility, hearing, memory, history of moving violations, and medications taken.
But, different groups placed the bulk of the responsibility on others.

For example, everyone agreed the drivers, their families, the Registry, physicians and law enforcement officers should share the responsibility for deciding when the elderly should stop driving.

The general public and law enforcement groups rated physicians as more responsible for the decision than did the physicians. Law enforcement officers and physicians rated adult children significantly higher in responsibility than did the general public.

Right now, only 11 states have age-based license renewal requirements and Massachusetts isn’t among them. Age alone, of course, isn’t the sole way to determine competence behind the wheel.

Consider vision. (Massachusetts does mandate a vision test when renewing a license.) Driving record. Medical history.
Someone has to take responsibility.

The driver? Many do take responsibility by driving less, not driving at night or in bad weather, not driving on highways.
Law officers? Many are reluctant to issue tickets or warnings to older drivers. The Institute suggested that they receive more training about complications that can arise because of failure to ticket, thus inadvertently condoning unsafe driving.
Doctors? Many are not aware that the AMA allows them to put public safety over confidentiality.

The Registry? With which tests, at what age, and how often? The study suggested vision, alertness, reaction time, number of moving violations and hearing.

Respondents to the study had several answers to the question about who should take responsibility. The consensus, in this order: self, Registry, spouse, physician, law officers, adult children.

Remember: one out of every three drivers today is over 55, some 7,000 older drivers are killed in automobiles accidents each year. There’s been a 39 percent increase in the number of drivers 70 and older killed in crashes in the past 10 years.

[Kay Scarpetta]

Originally posted by Mysty Eyes
The latest that I have heard is that they found evidence at the man's home that the wall of his garage had been hit by a car twice in the past. Now... whether or not this man was the driver is still to be determined. It could have been his wife, or someone else.

I work less than a block from where that accident happened. Several of my co-workers witnessed it, but none were hurt. I heard the car tires screeching as I sat at my desk.

Not a fun day.

You are that close? I'm glad you're okay!

[Ags2000]

While I agree that there does seem to be alot of accidents in older people, the same can be said for young drivgers as well.

My grandmother is 96 years old and is still driving. Now granted she doesn't drive at night or on the highway anymore. She lives across the street from Walmart and that is where most of her shopping is done at, that and HEB. The point is, as long as we feel safe driving with her, she will continue to drive.

The last accident she was in was a guy running into HER.

One of the last times she renewed her license she had to take the written test again as well as the driving test b/c they felt she was too old to drive after getting a ticket for running a stop sign. (They just convieniently forgot that they keep changing that stop sign back and forth ro a yield sign and it had just been changed to a stop sign but it is back to a yield now)

She took the written test and passed with flying colors. They kept putting her off to take the driving test and finally sent a letter to the judge saying that she had never come in to take the test so they were going to revoke her licence. When my grandmother got the letter stating that, she went a couple towns over and took her driving test. That test was with a state trooper and she passed THAT with flying colors.

To say the least she got her license and filed a complaint against the office here.

My point is, is that just because a person is old, it doesn't make them anymore or less dangerous then other drivers. I know some young people that have accidentately hit the gas instead of the break.

I do agree that something needs to happen to this guy. The least of which should be to have his licence revoked, but you have to admit...it WAS an accident. I don't think he was sitting there saying, "Hey, I think I'm going to kill some people with my car today."

What about the lady who hit a homeless man in the street. He was lodged in her windshield. SHe drove home kept saying how sorry she was, parked in the garage and left him to die...NEVER getting any help to try to save the man. The ovly person she called was some friends to help her dump the body.

To me, THAT crime was worse then the old man's.

D

[BrandonS]

Originally posted by dlemond
No negligence? What are you talking about?
Try using the brakes. He forgot how to do that?
For f---s sake, a monkey could do that!

And you've spent how much time being 86? The fact that people have been killed and hurt does not imply that someone is at fault. If anyone is, it seems to me it's the system that allowed him to retain his license, not some elderly guy because his powers are failing.

[ILuvJoandBlair]

Originally posted by dlemond
Is this guy going to jail?
Is his life changing in anyway now that this has happened?

I'm not sure if he went to jail or just to the police station, but he went and they released him. They decided not to press charges against him because they believe that it was unintentional.