Have you ever been on the road and been stuck behind an old person going 20 under the speed limit? Or have you seen an elderly citizen cause a crash? Maybe you were personally involved in some type of incident involving an elderly person? If these sentiments apply to you then you will probably agree that there needs to be a maximum driving age to reduce the number of crashes and deaths in total.
There are roughly six million car crashes in the US per year. Studies show that senior citizens cause 10.5% of all accidents and 13.7% of all fatal accidents.
In July 2003, there was an accident where an 87-year-old man drove his car into a farmer’s market at the speed of sixty miles per hour. This killed 10 people and injured 63 others. The youngest person to pass was seven months old. When he was questioned, he said he accidentally pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal. This is another reason why there needs to be a maximum driving age.
There are multiple other ways of transportation, some being buses, and rideshare apps, there are even apps designed for elderly people, or they could get a ride from a family member. If senior citizens were to use public transportation rather than try to drive themselves somewhere, it would reduce the amount of car wrecks per year therefore reducing the amount of deaths per year.
What I personally think is that once you reach the age of 60, you have to take a test every year to see if your ability to drive safely has been affected at all by your aging. Your ability to drive decreases with age but generally, studies also show that your ability to drive starts to decrease around the age of 55. Generally with aging, your reflexes slow down and your vision worsens. These are a crucial part of driving.
Senior citizens should not be allowed to drive unless they are properly tested every year to check for any safety concerns that would endanger not only themselves but other drivers on the road. If they do not pass that test, there are multiple other ways of getting to where they need to go safely. This should be a thing so another incident like the one that happened in 2003 does not happen again.
