No disrespect intended to senior DUers! You aren't running for president after all, or threatening to keep us in Iraq for the next 100 years.
http://www.caraccidentattorneys.com/senior-citizen-driver.cfmDespite the importance of driving in the United States, there comes an age when a person is incapable of driving on their own. Knowing what age a person should stop driving can be a sensitive issue to bring to the attention of the elderly. Skills vary between every senior citizen driver. In a one year study, there were 7,269 people 65 years and older that died in a car accident collision. Within the same time period, half of the crashes between intersections that resulted in a fatality involved drivers older than 80 years old.
Have you been injured in a car accident due to a senior citizen driver? If so, contact one of our car accident lawyers in your area today!
The abilities that may affect elder drivers due to aging factors are:
Loss of vision
Slower reaction time
Decrease in strength and motor skills
Lower tolerance to alcohol
Driving is not the only form of transportation available for the elderly. The fact that someone becomes incapable of driving does not mean they are restricted to become immobilized. There are many alternate forms of transportation elders can rely on; such as their family, friends or public transportation to get around. The bottom line is some older drivers can pose a threat to themselves the motorists around them.http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Politics/5-06-16DrivingLaws.htmDrivers aged 75 and older have a 37 percent higher crash rate than younger drivers, said Rosenfield, an editor at the journal. And because they are more physically fragile than their younger counterparts, senior drivers are more likely to be injured in a car crash. With the exception of teenage drivers, seniors have the highest probability of death resulting from an auto-related accident of any age group.
While age alone does not determine a person's ability to operate an automobile, "evidence suggests that certain characteristics associated with aging impair driving performance," Rosenfield said.
Perhaps the most serious physical disability is the decreased ability of an elderly person to see at night. In addition, studies show that a person's risk evaluation, cognitive capacity and decision-making abilities often decrease with age, which, along with motor ability problems and encroaching dementia, can impair driving performance.