"Elderly Drivers"

            As people begin to get up in age, the strength of their senses seems to decrease. The majority of elderly people are unable to either hear or see. Some may not even be aware of this problem. Also their reflexes are much slower. I believe that people who drive that are above a certain age should be tested more regularly. Loss of sight, hearing loss and slow reactions or reflexes could be hazardous not only to the elderly drivers themselves, but to other drivers on the road and pedestrians. Sometimes, elderly people don’t want to follow the rules and decide that they are going to try and do their own thing. Another thing is that they have a higher risk of putting the car in the wrong gear. Due to the loss of sight, elderly people may not be able to see the car that is ahead of them causing them to run into the car and even injuring the person inside. During the night, street lights have the tendency to bother the eyes of elderly drivers. This may cause them to become temporarily blinded and lose control of their car. They may not be able to hear things that are occurring around them while in control of their vehicle. When there is an ambulance, fire truck or police car trying to get through traffic and rush to an emergency. They’ll hear them at the last minute causing them to slightly panic and move out the way as fast as they can. Elderly people react to situations in a very slow manner. This will cause them to get nervous due to the fact that they’re not sure what to do in that exact moment. I believe that in order to solve this problem, the Department of Motor Vehicles should force elderly drivers to get their eyes and ears checked regularly. If they require glasses or/and a hearing aid, they should be wearing them at all times while in control of a car. If an elderly driver is found without any of these aids, the license of that elderly person should be revoked permanently. T his will make the roads safer for other drivers and pedestrians.    Elderly people sometimes don’t follow the rules of the road. When they are in traffic, they try to create their own shortcuts. They even try to go around a crowd of cars just to get by. They also have the tendency of thinking that they are always correct, while everyone else is wrong. I think that the elderly people who violate the rules of the road should be punished. If they violate driving rules, they should be forced to go to a driving class to prove that they are able to drive properly. If this approach doesn’t work, their license should be taken away from them forever.
     Some old people are known for either moving extremely slow or fast. Elderly people also have the tendency of making more mistakes while switching gears of the car. They sometimes put the car in the wrong causing it to accelerate and crash into another car or other objects that might happen to be in the way. Turning the car to the wrong gear could also cause the vehicle to speed in reverse. They are unable to fully control the car at this moment in time causing it to go into buildings and other things.
    Overall, I believe that old people should not be allowed to drive. The ones that are able to drive should have some sort of restrictions. They should be forced to get their license renewed annually. It also should be mandatory for elderly drivers to pass a driving test every time they try to renew their license. Elderly drivers bring a lot of dangers to themselves and other drivers on the road.