Beyond the statistics

Maine suffers from a double whammy when it comes to elderly drivers: a population that is, on the whole, older than most other states and a considerably more rural landscape, with little public transportation in most communities.

These facts are not lost on Dan Gwadosky, Maine’s secretary of state. But neither are the statistics: Elderly drivers are statistically prone to getting into car accidents.

The trouble he has — and which Secretary Gwadosky has passed on to a legislatively created task force to consider — is how to balance the needs senior citizens have for transportation against the greater public goal of traffic safety. Consider: Although only 6 percent of Maine’s drivers are over 75, they were involved in 15 percent of all fatal accidents in 1998. Nationally, the number of Americans killed in traffic accidents decreased between 1988 and 1998; among people age 70 and older, it increased, from 4,900 to 5,800.

Statistics like that can’t be ignored. But neither can other truths, such as the fact that rural residents without automobiles face the real possibility of being cut off from vital needs such as food, medical attention and social interaction. Maine simply doesn’t have a transportation network to serve most of its land mass, and even public transportation in its larger communities can’t always meet the schedules and needs of older people. And it is important that any solution take into account factors that underlie the statistics, such as unknown drug interactions that may impair judgment and the very real possibility that the rising fatality numbers are due not so much to the driving abilities of the elderly but to the increasingly aggressive driving of others.

Then there are the intangibles: The loss of freedom senior citizens face when they can no longer drive. The pressure such an event places on families and friends of the elderly. The possibility such events could force an independent senior into a supported living facility earlier than otherwise needed. The loss of self-esteem and the social constriction that can result from being housebound.

All these factors are known to the task force. Already, Maine requires annual eye tests for drivers after age 62, as well as a four-year, rather than six-year, renewal of licenses. Restrictions to the distance a senior citizen may travel, and containing that driving to daylight hours, are also under review. Any such restrictions, however, will be unfair and unworkable unless balanced by increased support, at the state and local levels, for public transportation.

What also must be considered are the very real problems elderly drivers face when they can no longer drive. What must be avoided are one-size-fits-all solutions, such as arbitrary ages after which seniors may not drive, or affirmative medical exams proving people are able to drive, absent evidence they are not.

Public safety is paramount, but public safety will not be enhanced unless the reasons for this increase in elderly traffic fatalities are fully understood. Driving is a privilege, not a right, but it is a privilege that, especially in rural Maine, borders on a necessity.