On Thursday, October 11, Senator Brian A. Joyce will testify in support of legislation that would pass simple age-based reforms for older residents seeking to renew their licenses. 

Current law requires only a vision test for those renewing their license every ten years, meaning that an 85-year-old driver can renew his or her license without further testing until age 95, at which time the driver would only have to pass a simple vision test and could continue driving until they were 105. An Act to Promote Safe Driving, which will be heard by the Joint Committee on Transportation at 11 a.m., would require individuals renewing their licenses to pass a vision and road test every five years after their 85th birthday. 

“My bill is mainly aimed at protecting seniors from becoming victims of their own driving rather than hurting others,” explained Senator Joyce.  

47 states have some sort of special requirements for older drivers, whether it is vision tests at every renewal or vision tests starting at a certain age. In those states where added qualifications start at a certain age, the age at which they most commonly begin is 65.  

85 is not an arbitrary age. It is statistically significant according to a variety of different sources. The Center for the Study and Improvement of Regulation at Carnegie Mellon University found that the mile-for-mile fatality rate is about three times higher for drivers 85 and older on weekdays than it is for teenagers. It is also about three times higher than the fatality rate for drivers between the ages of 75 and 84.  

For 16 to 20 year olds, there are 3.03 fatalities for every 100 million miles driven. This number drops off for drivers between the ages of 21 and 74, but drivers aged 75 to 84 have 3.1 fatalities per 100 million miles and drivers aged 85 and up have 11.47 fatalities per 100 million miles driven.

Senator Joyce added that now is the perfect time to pass his legislation given the recent passage of legislation restricting junior drivers. “We really have the opportunity to address this issue comprehensively by adding restrictions on our most inexperienced drivers while including safeguards to ensure that our oldest drivers are still able to drive safely.”

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers over the age of 80 hit more pedestrians per 100,000 people than drivers in any other age group and older drivers have higher crash death rates per mile driven than all but teen drivers.

Since Senator Joyce first filed the bill, he has heard from numerous residents of all ages who emphatically support the measure. 

“One woman didn’t want to have to be the one to take the car keys away from her mother despite knowing that she simply was no longer a safe driver,” said Senator Joyce. “Another constituent sent me an e-mail detailing a fatal accident with an elderly driver who suffered from dementia.”

By 2025, drivers 65 and older will represent 25 percent of the driving population, compared to 15 percent in 2001. According to a RAND Institute for Civil Justice study, accidents per-mile-driven increase when drivers are in their fifties and, by the time they reach their eighties, accidents-per-mile driven are almost as high as they are for the youngest drivers. 

“Elderly drivers and teenage drivers are the most dangerous groups of drivers on the roads,” said Senator Joyce. “We have already dealt with restrictions on inexperienced drivers. Now it is time to deal with the problems posed by elderly drivers in order to protect as many people as possible and make the roads as safe as possible.”