Sunday October 24, 2004
Seniors becoming a scapegoat for social discontent
There\’s been quite a lot of comment in our local paper recently about elderly drivers. One didn\’t realize he had gone through a red light. Another didn\’t know she had hit a pedestrian.
In California, apparently, an elderly driver killed eight people when he lost control and crashed into a flea market
Paul Bessette used to flag traffic for road construction. “I had one old coot actually drive around through the cones and pylons I had set up like it was a slalom course,” Bessette wrote, in a letter to the editor.
I expect to see a lot more criticism of older drivers in coming years. Partly because there will be a lot more older drivers on the road, as the baby-boomer population bulge moves into its retirement years. By 2024, one in four drivers will be over 65.
And partly because the elderly are becoming a scapegoat.
The facts about accidents
Between 1979 and 1995, the number of older drivers involved in crashes rose by 50 per cent.
Gerontology professor Andrew Wister of Simon Fraser University did a study for the Insurance Corporation of B.C. He found that accident rates for drivers aged 85 were higher even than for under-25 drivers. At intersections particularly, the 85-plus group\’s accident rate was ten times that of 40-49 year-olds.
In fairness, accidents involving seniors usually involve property damage, not death. Wayne Elford, a professor of Family Medicine at the University of Calgary, found that less than 0.5 per cent of all deaths of elderly people result from road accidents,
Although older drivers often restrict their driving, they still tend to have more accidents per kilometre driven. In Canada, the accident rate among those over 65 is triple that of adults aged 36 to 65. In the U.S., although overall traffic fatalities dropped 9 per cent over the ten years between 1989 and 1999, the number of fatalities among drivers ages 70 and over increased 39 per cent.
In defence of older drivers
What should be done about it?
Some argue that elderly drivers should be banned from the road.
Or that elderly drivers should be tested every year.
Or that elderly drivers should require a medical certificate from a doctor to continue driving.
Well, I\’m one of those elderly drivers.
And I agree that some of us should not be allowed to drive.
I\’d also like to point out that lots of not-so-elderly drivers should not be allowed to drive either.
I have yet to see elderly drivers street racing, for example.
I have never heard of seniors stealing a car to go joyriding.
I rarely see road rage in elderly drivers. They may cause it, but they rarely display it.
And I rarely see elderly drivers driving recklessly. Stupidly, sometimes, but rarely recklessly.
When I was much younger, I thought I had a right to be reckless. I figured I had far quicker reflexes than older drivers. Furthermore, I knew better how to handle a car in emergency situations. “Skid schools” hadn\’t been invented yet, but when hoar frost or freezing rain turned a parking lot into something more suitable for a Zamboni than a Hillman Minx, we practiced what to do when a car starts to slide.
No, I don\’t do that any more. I\’ve learned a little wisdom.
I\’ve also learned that my reflexes aren\’t what they used to be. I can\’t count on them to get me out of difficulties any more. So I try not to get into difficult situations.
My eyes aren\’t what they used to be either. And my neck doesn\’t turn as easily. So I take a little more time checking both ways at intersections.
At night, my eyes don\’t adjust as quickly after oncoming headlights blast past. So I don\’t drive as much at night as I used to.
Self-delusion
In fact, most elderly drivers are self-policing. When driving at night becomes uncomfortable, they stay home. When rush hour traffic stresses them, they wait an hour before venturing downtown.
I won\’t claim that I never speed. One aspect of growing older is that I develop a profound skepticism about arbitrary rules and regulations. One day the speed limit along a road is 60 km/hr. The police enforce it rigidly. For our own safety, of course. The next day the limit is raised to 90 km/hr. Same road. Same conditions. Nothing has changed but the numbers on a sign.
Overnight, a road that was unsafe at anything over 60 km/hr is now safe for 90 km/hr? Get real…
Unfortunately, we humans have an infinite capacity for self-delusion. It\’s said that there are three things no one ever admits to, voluntarily — lacking a sense of humor, being a lousy lover, and being a bad driver.
Unfortunately, some of us are.
Bonnie Dobbs, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta, has found that 98 per cent of elderly drivers with impairments severe enough to hinder driving ability still think they are average or above-average on the road.
A visible minority
The larger problem is a desire – perhaps a need – to blame someone. When we can\’t find a specific individual to hold at fault, we blame a generic group.
I think seniors are becoming our society\’s scapegoats. Over the next 20 years, if I live that long, I expect to see more and more senior-bashing, as fewer and fewer working people pay to support more and more retirees. Instead of being treasured, seniors are portrayed as the cause of rising medicare expenses, longer waitlists, higher pension deductions and insurance premiums…
But in all those matters, they\’re invisible. When they drive, they\’re visible. So that\’s what some folks scream about.
Driving is not a privilege. It\’s a responsibility. Those who are incompetent should be restricted or taken off the road entirely, regardless of their age. But until individual seniors prove themselves incompetent, get off their case.
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Copyright © 2002 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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