[firstdown]

Originally Posted by SolidSnake84

Your numbers are correct, firstdown. The link a few posts above to that iii.org page shows that the number of fatal accidents caused by old drivers are on par with new, young drivers.

The Josh accident was personal to me, but it started way before. In 2007, my dad had to make the decision to put his grandmother, who was then 88 or 89, in a nursing home. She had lived with us for the past year, after having an accident in her apartment building where she fell out of an elevator shaft and broke both hips and fractured her skull.

Right before that, she still drove semi-weekly. She was in bad shape physically. She could barely walk, or turn her head side to side. In January of 2007, she slammed her car into a concrete near her apartment building, injuring herself and 4 other people. A pedestrian was nearby who would have been killed if the car was 1 foot to the right.

The police charged her, but never did she lose her license or face any other kind of penalty. Thank goodness my dad mercifully stepped in when he did. I think most people feel shame to take away their parents licenses, or maybe to the point where they know they would have to drive them around, etc.

I know in Winchester, nearby to here, there is a bus service that takes elderly people around....its non profit and it is aimed at making the streets safer by keeping them off the road.

You have to remember that when an older person gives up their lic. its alot more to them then just a lic. Its their freedom to come and go when they want, they now have to depend on other for thing like going to the store, doctors, church, etc... and that why so many have a problem handing them over. Plus alot of time when they have an accident they blame it on the other person when its clearly their fault. Its not that they are trying to pull a fast one but thing happen so quick they get confused.