It seems like every time you watch a “Worlds dumbest” show on T.V you always see that elderly person that accidentally forgets which pedal is the gas and which pedal is the brake and drives their car through the front of a gas station. What if I told a recent study conducted by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that drivers 75-84 years of age have a fatality rate of 3 per every million miles driven (Just about the same amount as teen drivers). But once they get to 85 years old the vehicular fatality rate skyrockets to just over four times the rate of teen drivers. In my opinion, states should have a mandatory driving test and eye exam for senior citizens before they are able to get or renew their license. Currently the only state that requires a road test for senior citizens before being able to renew their license is Illinois, but many states require a vision test.
As people start to get older, their eyes start to change and get worse. Their peripheral vision begins to narrow and their eyes begin to become less sensitive to light. Also a lot of senior citizens begin to lose their ability to focus and see at long distances. With people between the ages of 52 and 70, there is a 50% chance of developing a cataract, while at least
70% of those 70 and older developing them. At the least 4.2 million individuals 65 years and older that were screened by an eye care professional have glaucoma, but almost 2 times as many have glaucoma but are unaware they have it so they go