With more older drivers on the road, states try to balance safety and mobility (NPR)
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The number of older drivers on the road is climbing as Americans keep their driver's licenses for longer than ever before — in some cases, too long, according to safety advocates. But many older adults say they shouldn't be forced to give up driving simply because of age alone.
There is no single national standard for older adults and driving. Each state sets its own rules for how often people have to renew their licenses and what kind of tests they have to pass, if any.
Still, many older Americans depend on driving for mobility and independence. And experts on aging say it's not easy to find the right balance between safety and fairness.
“There's no simple answer,” said Anne Dickerson, a professor of occupational therapy and director of the Research for Older Adult Driver Initiative at East Carolina University. “We have to be careful not to overreact, because it's not every older driver.”
It's hard to say exactly when older drivers should have to face additional testing to renew their licenses, Dickerson said, because Americans are living longer and aging better than ever before.
“When I started like 20 years ago, I would have said, oh, you know, 70, we have to start doing testing,” she said. But crash rates for older drivers have declined since then. Now, for people without dementia or serious medical conditions, Dickerson says she might wait to start additional testing until age 80 or later.
“The research has shown people between 70 and 79 are actually pretty safe,” Dickerson said. “Now part of it's decreased risk, because they're not going to work every day, they self-restrict.”
Data show that crash rates for older drivers have generally fallen over the last 25 years, even as the share of older drivers on the road has increased.
