Elderly Driving
The question of elderly driving is especially important to those of us that live in Florida. Since we have an extremely large population of elderly that drive and a mass transportation system that is lacking in many ways, we must think about what we should do about the elderly having to drive.
We must, as a society, begin to test the elderly to ensure that they are capable of driving. There are so many news articles on almost a daily basis about an elderly person or persons having an accident that either injures them or someone else. I believe that a mandatory testing of people over the age of 60 will greatly reduce the chances for these incidences. In this day and age of internet and mailing we make it far too easy for the elderly to renew their licenses without anyone even taking a look at these peoples cognitive function.
If an elderly person is not able to drive anymore, that was determined by the testing process, what do we do? How does society provide for our elderly so that this group is able to make their doctors appointments or meet with others to provide stimulation and help prevent depression. First, and foremost, we have to take care of our parents in their later years, just as they made sacrifices for us in our early years. We cannot treat our elder parents as if they are a burden, but as if we are paying them back for all their time and effort they put into us in our growing stages of life.
Another key way that we can help prevents elders having to drive and get into accidents is with a proper mass transit system. In the state of Florida we must follow some other states, such as New York, that have rail and taxis, that provide the necessary transportation for elders to do what they need to live life. This would highly reduce the number of driving accidents that plague not only the elderly population but anyone else that may on the road at the same time.
