Ihad a great aunt who drove a car right up until she was in her late 80s. On one occasion her daughter, my cousin, was a passenger in the car, and I heard the following from her. "Mom drove right through a red light," she told me, "but I decided not to mention it to her. Then she ran another red light. I turned to her and said, 'Mom, you just drove through two red lights.' Mom, still at the wheel, turned her head to me and said, 'Am I driving?' "
A funny story, perhaps, but true, and one that brings up a very serious issue. Up to what age should people be allowed to drive?
Clearly, some people are alert at 90, while others go downhill much earlier. In addition to the above incident involving my great aunt, I have heard many stories of elderly drivers whose reaction time and decision-making prowess were not up to the task of controlling what can, in an instant, turn into a weapon of pretty massive destruction.