Another day, another old driver goes through a wall

Before you argue, let's just get this out of the way right up front. Yes people of younger ages have also stupidly driven their cars straight into buildings. While in the case of young and middle-aged people it's often due to driver distraction, there's never any legitimate excuse. When it's someone elderly, too often it's reported they had no idea how it happened or even what they did. It's the difference between won't and can't. Some won't pay attention, while others, because of the aging process and declining skills, simply can't.

A 78 year-old woman trying to park her car outside a medical practice in Manchester Thursday drove right through the wall of the waiting room and injured three people. She was attempting to park her 2007 Hyundai Sonata when the vehicle lurched over the curb, over the sidewalk and straight through the wall and into the waiting room on the other side. The car hit a 51 year-old woman and another 78 year-old throwing them from their chairs, and the incident also injured a 76 year-old lady. All three had to be taken to the hospital. The damage to the building was enormous. The driver was not hurt.

I don't hate old people. I hope to be one someday. Yet the sad fact is there is an age when you are too young to drive and there is an age when you are too old to drive. This can vary from person to person. A rare elderly person can have their skills and reaction time right up into their late 90's. But let's face it. That's the exception that proves the rule. You can be a young 90 or an old 70, so no one should suggest a mandatory retirement age for driving like they do for commercial airline pilots. However the problem of elderly drivers in New Jersey demands action by the legislature and a re-testing policy. At some point we need to stop blindly renewing licenses to people who no longer have the reaction time, spatial awareness and mental acuity needed for the task of driving. Agree or disagree? Take our poll below.

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