By Nate Leskovic
Times Staff
2/28/08
Last week’s accident involving an 82-year-old resident crashing through the senior center is once again bringing attention to the state’s lack of regulation for elderly drivers.
No one was injured during the Feb. 19 accident. According to police, the man’s foot slipped off the break and hit the gas pedal while he was pulling into a handicap spot, sending the front of his car through the wall of the building.
A three-foot hole was punched underneath the activity room windows of the building, and stacked chairs were sent flying.
The senior center has been patched up, but supports were damaged and the wall needs to be replaced. Council on Aging Director Mary Ann Sullivan says the damages could be as much as $15,000.
The man will not be charged but police have asked the state to suspend his license, they say.
The incident follows a set of other recent accidents in the region, including the pinning of an 8-year-old girl against her school in Randolph by an 86 year old; a 76-year-old woman who drove into the Hingham post office; and an 89-year-old Taunton man who was killed after driving into oncoming traffic.
In December, an 80-year-old Unquity House resident hit four parked cars from Curtis Road to Blue Hills Parkway. A 97-year-old passenger was taken to Milton Hospital, but was not seriously injured.
“It really hits home,” says Sullivan about the senior center incident. “The system is very flawed.”
Sullivan says she recently saw a RMV employee help a senior cheat on the eye exam, and knows another with Alzheimer’s who had a brand new car delivered after family members intervened and blocked access to her car.
“Driving is a subject no one wants to tackle,” says Sullivan. “Most seniors will say ‘you’re discriminating against us because we’re old.’ Nobody wants to be the bad guy.”
Massachusetts is one of only three states without regulations for senior drivers.
Last fall, Sen. Brian Joyce re-filed a bill introduced more than two years ago that would require drivers aged 85 and older to pass a vision and road test when renewing their driver’s license.
“To me it is common sense,” he says. “Statistics show that while teenage drivers are involved in a lot of accidents, drivers over 85 are almost four times as likely (as a teenager) to get into an accident. We really have a duty to take positive steps to make the roads safer for senior drivers.”
Recent studies by AAA and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show that as drivers age, their likelihood to be involved in accidents increases.
Some states have more stringent regulations than Joyce is proposing, testing more frequently and at earlier ages, or requiring the input of doctors.
The impact of potential vision problems and deteriorating cognitive and motor skills on the driving ability of seniors will remain an issue, as the number of drivers 65 and older continues to rise as life expectancy increases.
Sen. Joyce says his legislation would be “a very modest first step” in addressing these concerns.
“Some say that 85 is too late, but let’s do something,” he says.
Sullivan says she is an advocate for seniors, and that includes backing new driving regulations despite the heat she takes for her stance.
“If an 82-year-old man kills someone, he will have to live with it for the rest of his life,” she says. “It’s easier to adjust to not driving. It’s such a part of how you maintain your independence as you age, but we have to look at it with a more realistic approach.”
“I’m fully cognizant of the real concern of many seniors to remain independent, and the overwhelming number of drivers are safe, and can and should remain driving,” says Joyce. “Yet there is a group that shouldn’t. The reality is our skills diminish with age. Diabetes, strokes or medicine can slow reaction times.”
Parents and doctors should also be more responsible for senior drivers, says Sullivan, though she admits telling seniors to stop driving is almost as tough as placing them in an assisted living residence.
“Why not test?” says senior Natalie Albers. “Other states do. I think it’s a very good idea. We have so many accidents, it’s foolish not to.”
Mary-Ann Trupe, a senior, disagrees.
“A general, across-the-board testing is absolutely discriminating,” she says. “I think the laws should be more stringent for the teens. With their lack of experience, they need more training.”
Gov. Deval Patrick recently expressed support for new regulations, and Joyce hopes to get his bill out of the Joint Committee on Transportation—of which he recently became assistant chair—in the spring.
“When I have an opportunity to discuss it,” he says. “People come around.”