I am sure you all heard tonight about the man in his 80's that killed 7 people in a Market Place. Should there be an age when Seniors should not be allowed to drive anymore? From what I read he was asked when someone asked him if he knew what he had just done and he said NO. But then on the other hand neighbors said he had his wits. Authorities said he had a valid license. Do you think maybe we should put a limit on age where seniors can no longer drive like we put a limit on an age where a teenager can start to drive at 16?

I was just about to make a post of this...ya beat me

Anyways...yes i think there should be an age limit to drivers. Old people start to lose eyesight & as we get older, we are at risk for a heart attack and we never know when it will strike and it might strike while we are driving and we may kill some people on the streets

I have not heard of this incident; can you provide a link?

I do not think there should be an automatic upper age limit for driving. It seems pretty clear that even the most brilliant five-year-old can't handle a car properly, so there should be some lower limit. On the other hand, there are some hundred-year-olds who are perfectly capable of driving safely.

I would favor stricter testing of drivers beyond a certain age limit, just as I would favor stricter testing of drivers below a certain age limit. Offer lower insurance rates as an incentive, maybe.

Market Accident in Santa Monica

Not really sure yet quite why this happened, other than neither alcohol nor drugs were involved. It may be a bit premature to discuss the topic of older age drivers based on this incident until we really know what happened and why.

My father turned 78 recently and he worried that he wasn't going to get his driver's license renewed. Turns out he did, but he never gets on the freeways and doesn't drive at night if he can avoid it.

I dislike taking away the independence of older people, but the hard fact of the matter is if you can be too young to drive, you can be too old to drive.

I'm sure we've all seen those folks moving ever so s-l-o-w-l-y in a walker coming out of a store and getting into a big chunk of Detroit steel. Many times their hands shake uncontrollably and they move with such obvious pain. It makes me worry how would they react in a panic stop situation. WOULD they be able to react?

It's a tough call, but who's the politician with a death wish that's going to introduce legislation to take away the drivers licenses of senior citizens. Who's that brave--and suicidal?

I heard on the radio this morning that the driver "accidentally" stepped on the gas rather than the brake. It took him 2 1/2 blocks before he realized his "error".

The guy will probably be charged with vehicular manslaughter.

I think they should add a reflex test in addition to the standard eye exam. Right now, if you got your license in the year 1920, you could STILL drive a vehicle provided your vision is ok. I think vision+reflexes is a more accurate way to measure someone's safety while driving (at any age).

It doesn't take you 2 blocks to figure you are gassing the car.

He might hve momentarily collapsed in a heart attack, stroke, or a dizzy spell

Ive heard of seniors getting confused on freeways, missing an exit and not knowing how to get back to their original spot and finally calling someone 30-50 miles away from home.

I would be reluctant to age limits but perhaps stricter testing. Then again, since testing agents would be alot younger and possibly impatient, that could create another huge problem for seniors.

As far as heart attacks, that can happen to anyone of almost any age nowdays, as well as epileptic attacks or any other kind of seizures. My father drove himself to the hospital when he had a heart attack.

We are advancing too fast for seniors to keep up with, maybe we should just take better care of them as a family values thing.

Everyone gets confused on the freeways in Southern California. It's not an age thing, it's a freeway thing. I've lived here for nearly 30 years and would probably still get confused if we hadn't bought a car with a GPS system in it, and even THAT thing still gets confused from time to time.

I'm 71, drive in heavy NJ traffic, and I've only been involved in one accident in my lifetime of driving, starting at 16 on LI.

That accident occured 3 years ago. I was hit broadside by a 17 year old girl running an amber light.

Very young drivers, as well as very old drivers, are high risks. It's just the way it is.

Just curious, but if her light was yellow, why were you in the intersection?

I think driving screening exams should be reflex and vision (the two abilities most related to safer driving).

In some areas, oldsters are treated like youngsters, in that they get tested more often. I am 57, and my license, issued in 2002, is good til 2011, or the year I turn 65. After that, I am sure that I will not get a license that is good for such a long period.
I also live near Sun City, a retirement community in Arizona. I get to see some strange driving, and the news frequently has video footage where they follow some of the older drivers around. One of them hit my truck while it was parked in a parking lot, a glancing blow that put very little damage at one corner of my bumper, but left a foot long crease on his car. At first I thought the 7 foot long crease was due to what he had just done. He said, "No, I did that on the big rocks next to my driveway".
Older drivers should have increased testing, and should have their license taken away if they become vision impaired or they become too feeble to safely drive.