On January 14th a horrible incident involving an 83-year-old driver resulted in the death of a single mother. Each time a tragedy involves older drivers the question of whether seniors should be driving arises and CARP is called on to respond. In an interview later that day, CARP VP of Advocacy Susan Eng said that ability, not age, should dictate whether people are allowed to drive. Click here to read this article

There are bad drivers at any age but it seems that each time an incident involves an older driver a segment of the public erroneously assumes that the driver’s age was the only contributing factor.

In fact Dr. Gary Naglie, a key researcher on the study of drivers 70 and older told The Toronto Star that research shows a majority of senior drivers are safe drivers and that they are the most experienced drivers on the road. Click her to read the Toronto Star article. Click here to read the article.

CARP supports the development of standardized testing through research projects such as Candrive, click here to read about the Candrive program

Results from such studies will help with the development of an in-office decision tool to help physicians identify older drivers who may need further assessment of their driving ability. The decision tool, by identifying high risk drivers, will allow physicians to confirm the majority of older drivers are safe to drive.

Keywords: driving, seniors