[Greg_99]

I live in St. Pete. I have to say many of these older drivers are a menace. Many can't see; their reaction times are way way up and yet we issue licenses for something like 10 yrs at a time. Recently we had an older man run down a homeless guy, who was hit so hard he came THRU the windshield. The driver continued to drive around town and down towards the skyway bridge.....never realizing a man was bleeding out onto his dashboard. Finally other drivers pinned his car so he had to stop. he never knew what happened. At least once a year we have something like that happen here.

[irgbar-man]

Yes, I remember reading that very article on FR. It was just in Sept. or Oct. '05.

I'm off to work now. Y'all drive safely.

[Banjoguy]

I have to say many of these older drivers are a menace

Many?

Your story is purely anecdotal and doesn't prove a thing. Statistically there are more older folks in your living area.

The vehicle under discussion here is the motorized scooter. These scooters can be a problem and need a set of safety standards specifically targeted to them. But that being said, acturarially the highest automobile accident rate is among the 16-25 age demographic.

Most older folks that I know are excellent drivers and aggravate the devil out of speeders when they drive the speed limit.

But you are right that testing needs to be more frequent and rigorous. Some will slip through the crack or don't know when to quit. And some are careless to a fault but no more so than with any other group of citizens.

[Banjoguy]

I also want to say that the area you live in is becoming very congested. The roads and traffic system are antiquated. The interstates are often blocked as the state tries to catch up with the changes that are needed. Some of the intersections are confusing to the experienced driver. Many of the road names are county or state designations, difficult to read on the fly. There are no road shoulders to speak of and most of the time, no bicycle lanes.

My point is that, most of this presents a challenge to the exprienced driver in regard to alertness and control.

The Florida driving test does not deal with any of the contemporaneous issues, like immigrants who cannot read and learned to drive in another country, the aging population, motorized scooters, and the need for speed.

...have a happy.

[Thermalseeker]

I live in St. Pete. I have to say many of these older drivers are a menace.

I lived in Daytona for about 2 1/2 years and it was a daily occurrence there. Virtually every time you would hear screeching tires, you look up and you see blue hair and white knuckles....