Originally Posted by ralper,Aug 31 2009, 11:36 PM

My mother is 87. One and a half years ago my sister and I had to take her car away. She was, to say the least, a danger on the road. She still can't understand why we did this, and she still insists that she is capable of driving safely, but her trail of mishaps and accidents in the last two years tells an entirely different story.

There is no question that there are some people who remain capable of driving well into their 90s, but there is also no reason not to retest people as they get older. As a matter of fact, if budget wasn't a consideration, I think it probably would be a good idea to retest all drivers every few (3 to 5) years.

I can tell you first hand that taking away the right to drive from somebody who has driven all of their life is devastating. It completely changes the complexion of their life, and takes away their independence (or their feeling of independence) at the same time as they are losing some of their other abilities. Taking away the car from my mother was a terrible thing to do to her. On the other hand, had we not done it, there is no question in my mind, my sister's mind or her doctors minds that sooner or later she would have been involved in an accident, potentially injuring and/or killing herself and others. She simply had to be taken off of the road.

Hopefully we will all reach that certain age where we will no longer be able to safely drive a car. Hopefully, when we reach that age we will still have enough mental capacity to recognize that we can no longer drive without posing a hazard to ourselves or others. Unfortunately, that is often not the case.