At what age do you think people should stop driving?

75

It should look something like this. At age 70, licenses should be set for renewal every two years. Drivers at this age should be required to report in person to a DMV and pass a vision, hearing, and motor skills test to be able to renew. At 76, make it an annual requirement.

I had to anonymously report my dad to the DMV when he was diagnosed legally blind at 73 (on top of hearing issues and refusal to wear hearing aids), after learning to my shock that HIPAA apparently prevented his diagnosing ophthalmologist from doing so. I can't believe that a licensed doctor in a position to know a patient poses a public safety risk is barred from making this kind of report. So, I had to find a way to do it or else my dad would absolutely have kept right on driving. How many others in this position wouldn't even bother to do it?

I want to do my drives forever but the thought of getting old or blind is daunting.

It depends on the cognitive abilities of the person. I'd say between 80 and 85.

An aunt was still able to drive at 90.

55!

Between 80 and 83, at the oldest.

I want a little driving cap and coast by with the jetsons honking at me

My aunt was 73 with beginning stages of dementia but not Alzheimer. She went to her local supermarket, got out of the car, forgot where she was, car still running and in drive, she got out, tried to stop it, rolled right over her, both legs. Somehow she survived with no broken bones. THAT is what you call a sturdy woman.

Eye examinations. my mother's driving at age 80 improved after cataract surgury.

R9 It’s that silver alert stuff that’s scary. I’m 36 and o constantly come and go and go to random people places. Double my age and perhaps I should be watched. I’ll be that person who goes for cigarettes and ends up in Kansas.

Everyone 70 and over should have yearly medical physical and ocular and hearing testing which prove they are capable of driving safely as they age. If the person is unable to meet the physical safety requirements for driving then they wouldn't get their DL renewed. At the end of the day - driving is a privilege not a right and other road users should be able to use the road knowing they are as safe as possible from drivers who shouldn't be driving.

I don't drive at night anymore so the world is safe.

I'm really looking forward to fully automated cars. As I've hit late middle age I've started to really dislike driving, especially at night and in the rain. Portland gets so dark so early in the fall and winter, the streetlamp coverage sucks, it's constantly raining and pedestrians and the homeless wander across the dark streets, often not at crossings, dressed in dark colors or black as if their objective is suicide by proxy.

R14, I have been saying that for years. Cant wait until self driving cars area real thing. By the time they want to take my keys away, all the bugs should have been worked out. I have already tried WAMO self driving taxi in LA, SF, Phoenix. Very cool, only nervous for about the first few minutes. It feels like a human is driving. Surprised how aggressive it can be and thinking how to navigate is surprise traffic condition. Better than some Uber cars I have been in.

I never drive at night, I'm not eighty but I live in the sticks with no street lights, only high beams for about eight miles before I reach industrial land.

It really depends on the individual. Some people are still very competent and capable drivers at a great age. My first ex had a great aunt who was a racing driver when young, and in her 90's had a highly modified Nissan Skyline GTR, reluctantly downgraded to a V12 Jag XJS which she took back to the dealer a couple of times as she found it a bit slow

She was not your average old lady driver, granted

I made my mothervstop.driving earlier this year; she's 92. She's give me hell about it but I want her and others to be safe. There had been no issues..I just want us to be prudent.

R18, at a certain point the child has to become the parent and take away the keys. If you fail to do this knowing what you know, you only have yourself to blame is she kills someone else while driving and you could have prevented it knowing she was not fit to drive.

The mother of one of my friends was in the early stages or Alzheimers. She had one minor accident and then a more serious one. Her daughter called the DOL and said "you need to tell my mother that she needs to come to the DOL office in person for a vision and hearing exam, but you need to take away her license". They heard her loud and clear, the mother came in and was denied a new license. She begged and pleaded for her daughters to replace her car and let her drive again. They didn't. Unfortunately, she lived out in the country, to transportation did become a bit of an issue. But it was only a few months before her mental health took a sharp turn for the worse, and then they tricked her into moving in with one of the daughters and shortly afterwards, when that daughter was at the end of her ropes, she was tricked again into moving in a memory care place in Los Angeles. She was in her early 80s at the time.

It's the sequence of events that is crucial. The average age of death of men is 76, but early 80s is more common for people who don't have any major health issues. I think most men would rather die than give up their cars, and many do. I don't have the terrifying night driving trouble that many my age complain about, but I do use my brights on poorly lit residential streets without much traffic. I used to use them rarely, and my night vision used to be exceptional. Then I read the sentence that made a big difference about using brights in dim light. That sentence was, "That's what they're MADE FOR" and now I use them much more frequently. If I have enough warning that I'm beginning to be a dangerous driver, I hope that I will be in a position to go to an assisted living place where they have vans to take people shopping and to concerts, etc, and at that point I'll be happy to give up driving. I don't have great confidence that I will live into my 80s, but I think that would be about the age to give up driving and I don't think I'd feel too bad about it.

I always think about that old joke the comedian used to tell: "I'd like to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather did -

Not like the screaming people in his car and the one he ran into".

Yes, my Mum was good until she was 87/88 or so, at hat point I suspect her dementia was just starting to set in. She drove into a wall, and gave up driving voluntarily at that point.

You driving capability is closely tied to your general health and fitness at that age, and it is part of the reason I do a lot of exercise/ fitness / lifestyle type stuff, so that I can keep driving

Advancing levels of eye tests should be required from, say, 45, supplemented by mental acuity, reflexes, and questions about various health conditions should enter the picture.

Old people get stubborn as fuck thinking a driver's licence is a lifelong right to endanger the lives of others.

If you have an older parent you know how difficult this discussion can be. But honestly with all the ride share options it makes life a little better....but my 81 yr old mother refuses to get into a random car so I'm stuck paying her insurance cause I'm not driving her everywhere

I don’t think there should be a required age where you have to stop. But there should be mandatory annual medical and eye exams after a certain age.

[quote]after learning to my shock that HIPAA apparently prevented his diagnosing ophthalmologist from doing so.

I don’t think that’s true, but maybe it varies by state.

I know for a fact that one of my mother’s doctors reported to the state that she had dementia. She wasn’t driving anyway at that point , but she still had a valid license.

Also, doctors usually report to the state DOT when patients are diagnosed with a seizure disorder.

It depends greatly on the individual. Some of us will be fit to drive at 88 and others will be a danger to themselves and everyone else at 75.

My mom, 85, has been cutting back significantly on driving... just short local errands in the daytime when she feels good enough and there's no rain. She has no dementia symptoms but knows her reaction time and sensory input (hearing, sight) are increasingly slipping.

If i were in charge... mandatory 2 year tests starting at 70, and mandatory annual tests together with a basic eyesight exam starting at 80. Things can deteriorate quite fast in a person's 80s.

We finally had to take mom's driver's license at 85 when she rolled into a motorcycle cop at a traffic light.

My eye doctor said most people who live long enough need cataract surgery. By the age of 80 something like 90% have cataracts. It usually starts around age 60 but most people don't notice until much later.

R11 that’s not normal at 36 dude. Get a carbon monoxide detector.

Depends on the person. I know several vigorous octogenarians

My mother is still driving at 85—but not at night. (My father, a few years older, stopped a few years ago because of mobility issues.) I know a gal who at 96 is still plying I-95 between town and city.

R2: I think that's wrong about HIPAA. My mother's primary care doctor notified motor vehicles when she had a head injury last year that put her in ICU for over a week.

R32, yes and it’s actually the law here in NJ.

It's been my experience that the worst drivers are young males and women who just can't stop texting as they drive. Old people are just slow.

today

It's one thing driving from Cos Cob to NYC on i95.. Another driving from the farmhouse to a rural church in butt fuck Idaho on Sunday morning.

My mother is 79 and slowing down. But on her own, she refuses to drive on the freeways, she doesn't like to drive at night, and she confines her daily travels to her doctor's., or the supermarket or the Mall. She puts less than 4,000 miles a year on her car. So given that she has had no accidents or traffic tickets, I can see her driving until she is 85. Then we will have "the conversation." Her vision is fine, she is mentally sharp and goes for walks daily.

My father's still driving at 89. He had to go in and get his eyes checked not too long ago, and (believe-it-or-not) his vision is still 20/20. And he lives in St. Pete, FL, where the traffic is fast and crazy no matter where in town you drive.

The only thing that saves him is that he drives a huge old Mercury Marquis. When I was living in St. Pete, I knew -- as everybody does -- to stay away from that kind of vehicle because only old people drive them. So I imagine, driving that car, he has less chance of harming anyone than when he was still driving his little Kia Soul.

I’m 77 and will stop in two years. No health problems and just had cataract surgery. I see better now than 30 years ago. I just think at 79 it’s time to quit.

My mom is now 83 and in memory care, at the last stage of Alzheimer's. She's been in this kind of care for 2 years (she declined very rapidly after a series of falls and head injuries), and my dad stopped her from driving a year before that - it had been a huge point of contention between them, she didn't recognize her own memory and cognitive deficits, but she had been in a couple of minor fender-benders in the year before that. Finally one day she couldn't remember how to get home after visiting my sister's house a few miles away. They had a difficult marriage emotionally (he's a narcissist) and being unable to drive meant being stuck around him 24/7 or alone in the house when he left

Ah, R38, the once official automobile of the Florida retiree now getting thin on the ground. My father had one in the 1990s, as did over half the residents in his condo community.

It depends on their reaction time and cognitive ability. After 80 it becomes questionable and I think testing should be required.

[quote]Portland gets so dark so early in the fall and winter, the streetlamp coverage sucks, it's constantly raining and pedestrians and the homeless wander across the dark streets, often not at crossings, dressed in dark colors or black as if their objective is suicide by proxy.

Gosh, if only Portland didn't have the most superlative public transit of any mid-sized North American city. (But seriously, why not use TriMet and forego driving entirely? No, not being near a MAX or streetcar stop isn't a valid excuse: only flyover bitches are scared of riding the bus.)

The only fair way to do it – after acknowledging the reality that plenty of seniors drive just fine, and that age alone may not be sufficient to decide the matter – is via annual or semi-annual tests of both vision & reaction times. Even if mandating a literal driving test every year is too much, testing those two bits (if done correctly) should plainly illustrate who should & shouldn't be driving.

And yes, I happen to be hitting this precipice with my own parents at present: my mom's 79 and my dad's almost 81. My mom was far *too* cautious a driver even when I was a kid, but now she drives as minimally as possible, and has told *us* to tell her when we think she needs to stop driving if she doesn't decide before us. I know I lucked out there, but I didn't with my dad: he's always been a reckless driver. Meaning literally: when I was 12 we had three state troopers converge on us because Dad was misusing a then-still-uncommon vehicle no American car could match – a BMW 5-series, before they became a "yuppie thing." (He was clocked doing 108 mph. State troopers radioed ahead to stop him. He spent the night in jail & lost his license for six months.)

Dad drives *somewhat* more normally nowadays, but one not-so-small problem: he has peripheral neuropathy and *literally* has almost no feeling in his legs below the knee! I also found out recently that he had two "minor" fender-benders that he didn't mention to me or my siblings, for good reason: both were his own fault & specifically due to not focusing on the road.

I'm not looking forward to it, but we're already prepping for the take-away-the-keys chat after Thanksgiving dinner next month. It'll likely ruin Christmas as well, but that's better than my father killing both himself and potentially others because he should NOT being driving.

If my Ma got in a couple of fender benders she'd quit driving voluntarily. They have Uber and Lift and there are special rates for Seniors sometimes, and it's not like you're trapped. And if you're fortunate to live in a city with good public transportation you can manage.

R43 I hate both the Portland bus and light rail system. They are FAR from superlative, lol. Feel free to enjoy them though , since you're a fan. I do mostly bike around the city which might satisfy your virtue preening

If you're curious about how you measure up, here's an actual scientific study conducted by real researchers (looking for Alzheimer's markers) from legitimate entities that measures both your memory and your reflexes.

I took it and I came out slightly better than my peer group (controlling for gender, age, education, etc.) in the memory test, but [bold]considerably[/bold] better than my peers in the reflex test. That is exactly what I would expect from an old biker like me; otherwise, I'd have been dead a long time ago.

I linked to the test. Check it out!

There's absolutely no problem with an 82 year old driving or doing anything else like being President.

I agree with the people who say it should be based on case-by-case testing rather than general cutoff dates. My mother is still a reasonably good driver in her mid 80s (of sound mind and her vision without glasses is actually better than mine), but her night vision is bad and she's timid about heavy traffic, so she mostly sticks to daytime driving on familiar streets. A decade younger friend of hers is flighty/distracted enough to be unsafe and has the multiple dents and dings from accidents to prove it.

Then again, I stopped riding in cars driven by a friend off mine before he hit 30, after visiting him in the hospital/driving him to the ER myself following some of his many, many accidents. I was frankly amazed when natural causes got him rather than a fiery crash.

R48 Fuck off, Hortense. Maybe pay more attention to the demented diaper wearer currently squatting in the White House.

r47 I guess I can continue to drive for a bit longer. My attention/speed got a special notice. "Wow, you are really fast". (Under 375) And my memory was rated as "Wow, your verbal memory really rocks" (Just under 36)

I think the attention/speed was related to reading music. I have to see and play something on my instrument virtually instantly - every day of my life.

I took the sample test once - couldn't remember a single word pair. I was ready to check myself into a memory care unit. So I started the whole process over again. I realized I I had to get serious and focus. Made little mnemonic tricks to remember how the two words related. Then it wasn't bad at all. But I had to say the words out loud.

Damn, you're good, R51! How old are you?

My mother is almost 87 and took her driving test last week for her annual renewal. She passed with flying colors, and the instructor said that, of 11 people she had tested that day, my mom was the best driver. She won't drive long distances at night and never drives on interstates or busy roads.

I'm grateful that she can drive, as it promotes the kind of social interaction that is important in keeping her mental acuity. She drives all her old lady friends around town, and she drives to work. (Yes, she still works one day a week as a bookkeeper at a local store. She doesn't need the money. She just loves the owner's family as if they were her own, and she likes the social interaction.)

16.

People age very differently. Some probably shouldn't be driving already at 70, and others are still competent in their 90s.

But once you pass age 70, a good rule of thumb would be for all DMVs to require drivers over 70 to pass a in-person driving test, probably to include vision and hearing, because those senses starts degrading rather quickly for some people.

Here's what concerns me. We live in troubled times. I worry about my mother who is just 80, competent in every way, but she LOOKS 80 and she MOVES like an elderly person. She's a bit stiff. So when she parks the car in the mall lot, and opens her car door, she struggles for a minute to get out. Then she has to flex her legs a couple times to limber up that achy hip. Then she starts walking. She get more limber with each step. but she looks and is very vulnerable. It would take less than a gust of wind to knock her on her ass, steal her purse and her car and that is my worry. It's not about her capabilities. It is about her vulnerability. Now she does park as close as she can but it's a worry.

R56 Aging people need to do have some form of stretching and mobility exercises to keep them limber and reasonably reflexive. Otherwise they become stiffer and weaker and and prone to losing their balance.

Age has nothing to do with it. Someone should stop driving once they reach a point they are unable to safely operate a vehicle on the roadways. Be it 75 or 105.

R56, call her doctor and ask them to get her a handicapped plate so she can park close to the store door

R1: No citation for this. Also, no recognition of the various ways that states a;ready regulate this.

60 and over should be tested annually.

Let's wait until you're 60 and see if you still think so, R61.

Eh -- it wouldn't bother me, R62. And I'm 67.

Of course, I'm confident I'd pass with flying colors.

Even if you'd pass with flying colors, you'd still have to spend a day each year dealing with the DMV to schedule and take your driving test. Since most 60 year olds are still working, that's a huge inconvenience, especially for an age group that hasn't shown to be riskier drivers than others. There would also be a huge increase in the need for and the expense for DMV offices, if everyone 60 and over had to take the driving test each year.

I am smack dab in the middle of this dilemma. My Mom's 85 and she is acknowledging some memory loss, but still insists she's fine to drive to the grocery store. I cannot describe to you the terror I feel when she drives off and, mind you, she drives 8 miles each way on a semi-rural road and back in the day time only. She is finally moving in with me and I think this discussion about driving privileges is timely. She thinks she's going to bring her car with her to Southern California but there is no way that she will be able to either pass the driving test or maneuver the 5 miles to our grocery store. I'm grateful that she's not terribly stubborn and her own anxiety causes her to defer most driving now, so I think that she will come to her own conclusion, but it is really hard to watch my very capable, smart mother lose still more of her independence. Thank god for Uber.

Sometimes, the thing to worry about is OTHER drivers. Older drivers tend to drive more cautiously which makes younger drivers drive more aggressively.

At what age do we take away their guns?

R67, hopefully before the driiving issue is mentioned!

[quote]Even if you'd pass with flying colors, you'd still have to spend a day each year dealing with the DMV to schedule and take your driving test.

R64, did you not notice I said I'm 67? I've been retired from FT work since I was 58. And if you judge by DL, a lot of people are retiring at younger ages, in spite of the young'uns bitching about elders keeping their jobs too long.

You make at appointment at the DMV and take some time off that day. It's not rocket science. And all my dad had to do was pass the eye test.

R69 If most 60 year olds ar

…are still working, most are still competent to drive. It’s stupid to start testing people that young. A better age would be 75, but I would say 80, if at all.