NJ lawmakers’ shameful and epic failure to protect our elderly

Politicians love to play hero to the elderly.

Age 65 and over is the demographic most likely to vote in elections. And an AARP report out this year says New Jersey voters age 50+ decide state and local elections by wide margins in off-year elections.

Politicians know where their bread is buttered. It’s why you’ll hear federal lawmakers always talk about protecting older voters by preserving Social Security. It’s why you’ll hear state lawmakers always talk about protecting older voters by preserving pensions.

The one thing no politician in New Jersey will do to protect the elderly truly is make them angry.

They would rather risk them dying in car crashes than risk losing their vote.

If lawmakers truly cared about their elderly constituents, they would say what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. Nothing is being done about the problem of elderly drivers hurting themselves and others on our highways because the folks in Trenton care more about their reelection than the lives of the elderly.

If that weren’t true, we would be retesting elderly drivers beyond a certain age. We would be requiring in-person license renewals, not rubber-stamping them once drivers are in their 80s and reaction time and cognitive skills often decline. We would be doing something, hell, anything, to make sure our grandmothers and grandfathers are safe if they’re going to continue to drive.

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Other states have dared to tell their elderly constituents things they don’t want to hear.

And it’s amazing that a known nanny state like New Jersey, which thinks nothing of protecting the rest of us from ourselves, won’t do the same when it comes to octogenarians and nonagenarians and their access to motor vehicles.

If an elderly driver argues they are perfectly capable of driving, they should not be afraid to pass a test to prove it. Show me a politician who disagrees with this, and I’ll show you a politician who doesn’t actually give a damn about the elderly they represent.