PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVEFARMER.CO.UK

Photo of an older woman behind the wheels.

More than a few times recently, I have been driving and the person in front of me is either going incredibly slow, swerving all over the lane or heavily riding their brakes. If they are driving slowly, I try to be patient and wait until I can pass them, only for us to reach a passing zone and they speed up, so I can’t pass them unless I go at least 15 to 20 miles over the speed limit. 

When I am finally able to pass them, usually one of two things becomes clear: the person is either on their phone and not paying attention to the road, or it’s a senior citizen who can’t even see over the dashboard. 

Go on TikTok or Reddit, and you can find plenty of people complaining about how people shouldn’t be allowed to drive past a certain age. As someone with a light amount of road rage, when I’m in the moment on the road and see that the person causing my road rage is elderly, I think to myself, “Oh my gosh, you’re so old, you shouldn’t even be allowed to drive.”

But when I think about it, it’s not all old people who can’t drive. Most of them, maybe, but not all of them. 

In conversations with my parents about this frustration, they have pointed out that they still have to get from place to place and don’t always have someone to drive them.

So, I have changed my opinion from ‘old people shouldn’t be allowed to drive’ to ‘old people should have to retake their driver’s test past a certain age.’ Ideally, once a person turns 70, they should have to retake their driver’s test. 

People usually start learning to drive and get their learner’s permits at 15 or 16 years old. That would mean a 70-year-old today was learning to drive and got their learner’s permit around 1965 or 1966. Driving rules and laws have changed quite a bit since then. 

Cars weren’t even required to have seatbelts until 1968, and the seatbelts we have in cars today weren’t the standard until ’73. In Arkansas, it wasn’t until ’91 that it became mandatory by law to wear your seatbelt. So it’s safe to say that things have changed since baby boomers learned to drive. 

I’m not saying they need to take both the written and the driving portion, but they do need to at least take the driving portion. Not only would this keep me and other drivers from getting unnecessary road rage, but it could also keep the road safer.  

Swerving all over the road, cutting people off, and driving 10 to 15 miles per hours under the speed limit should not be allowed on the road, especially when there are ways to prevent it. 

As someone who loves her grandparents very much but gets incredibly nervous when she rides in the car with her grandmother driving, I feel I am very qualified to talk about these things. 

Categories: Opinion