When a Child Turns 18, They Want the Car Keys, but at What Age Do You Take the Keys Away?
For over three decades, our law firm has handled tens of thousands of car accident cases, and unfortunately, many of them involve people who frankly should not be driving.
In order to drive safely, one must possess proper vision (with or without correction), reflexes, and cognitive abilities. While many individuals do not possess a great impairment of these physiological functions, unfortunately, others suffer from a loss of faculties that make them unsafe drivers on the highways. No one wants to admit that Mom or Dad or a loved one is failing in mental or physical capacities, yet many times the undisputed truth is that they may be dangerous to themselves or others if they are put behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.
I am currently dealing with a situation involving a dear family member. His spouse and children think that it is okay for him to drive a motor vehicle. Yet, spending an hour or two with this person would make most objective and rational people feel quite opposite.
Many times our elderly loved ones don’t want to become a burden on their children or friends and don’t know when it’s time to turn over the keys to their car until it’s too late and their health or the well-being of another via a car accident is impacted.
Although each state has a required age to start driving, there are no rules and regulations that pronounce at what age driving becomes unsafe. All it takes is a postage stamp or email for a senior citizen to renew their driver’s license.
As an experienced Philadelphia car accident attorney, I would like to see laws with a shorter time period between the renewals of driver’s licenses for those over the age of 70 or some other benchmark age and should include vision and road testing.
Interestingly, the insurance industry is reluctant to comment on how or if aging impacts premiums. However, I recently reviewed one statistic where fatal crashes involving the elderly normally occur after age 60. With advances in medical technology and science, people will be living longer and I urge all of our readers to observe your loved ones carefully for signals that may impact their safety on the roadways. Don’t wait until there is a car accident or death.
