A looming "gray wave" of Baby Boomers expected on the nation's highways over the next two decades has prompted states to launch programs aimed at allowing seniors to keep driving as long as they can without endangering themselves or others.

The number of Americans 65 and older will jump from 39 million in 2010 to 69 million in 2030, according to Census projections. Today, about 15% of all drivers in the USA are 65 or older; by 2025, one-quarter will be, says Peter Kissinger, president and CEO of AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

"I really don't think our society is ready for that," he says. "We are not ready with respect to the kinds of issues older drivers face."

What states are doing:

*California is analyzing results of a pilot project in which drivers who failed an initial written or vision test were required to take additional tests, sometimes including an eye exam and a road test.

The state also offers limited licenses in which elderly drivers are tested -- and licensed to drive -- only on specific routes that they travel regularly, says Charley Fenner of the California Department of Motor Vehicles.


*Maryland state law allows police, doctors and residents including relatives to refer potentially unfit drivers to the Motor Vehicle Administration's Medical Advisory Board. Police refer about 700 people annually; about 60% of them are drivers over age 65, says Carl Soderstrom, chief of the advisory board. Some drivers are retested.

*A 2004 Florida law requiring that older drivers pass a vision test before getting a license renewed has helped cut the death rate among drivers 80 and older by 17%, according to University of Alabama-Birmingham researchers. "It didn't go down for other ages in Florida," says Gerald McGwin, lead author of the study and UAB epidemiology professor.

No single standard

Experts say people age so differently that it's impossible to devise a single standard for when driving privileges should end.

"One of the biggest concerns I have is the stereotyping of older drivers in general," says Thomas Meuser, a gerontologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who studied a Missouri law that allows family members, doctors, police and others to report potentially unsafe drivers.

"Most older drivers are safe drivers," he says. "The challenge is older drivers with either subtle but progressive health issues that affect them without their knowledge."

Driving is often vitally important for seniors. Several studies have shown that taking the keys from elderly drivers who have no other transportation can cause them to become depressed or inactive, lose access to health care and die sooner.

The latest state thrust into the debate over elderly drivers is Massachusetts, where a recent series of incidents involving elderly drivers culminated with a June 13 crash. An 89-year-old woman who had been involved in previous crashes allegedly struck and killed a 4-year-old girl crossing the street near Boston with her grandfather and two siblings.

Police charged the driver with motor-vehicle homicide, and the state revoked her license. The woman is contesting the citation.

Call for retesting

Massachusetts state Sen. Brian Joyce, a Democrat, is pushing a bill requiring drivers 85 and older to pass a vision and road test every five years.

Current law requires only a vision test every 10 years, which "is simply inadequate," Joyce says. "We test drivers when they're 16 1/2, and they're never tested again."

That's the case in most states. Eighteen states require that elderly drivers renew their licenses more often than younger drivers, but only Illinois and New Hampshire require road tests for older drivers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

AARP and other advocates for seniors call age-based testing discriminatory and ineffective.

"There are those who believe that driving is a right and not a privilege," says North Carolina state Rep. Ric Killian, a Republican whose bill requiring road tests for drivers 85 and older and shorter license terms for those 75 and older was defeated in April.

"Because of the strength of the AARP, it's very difficult to change state law," he says. "If it's hard today, it's going to be impossible in 10 years when there are even more older drivers on the roads."

Age isn't the issue, says Elinor Ginzler, AARP's senior vice president for livable communities.


"We absolutely agree we need to change the way driver's licenses are renewed," she says. "What determines your safety isn't your age but your ability."

The AARP supports in-person licensing renewals and pre-license screening that is not age-based, Ginzler says. "But most states have reduced the number of times you have to appear in person and changed to renewal online or in the mail" to cut costs, she says. Driving can be deadly for seniors

*Motor vehicle injuries are the leading cause of injury-related deaths among 65- to 74-year-olds and the second leading cause (after falls) among 75- to 84-year-olds.

*Drivers 70 and older have a higher fatality rate per mile driven than any other age group except drivers younger than 25.

*On the basis of estimated annual travel, the fatality rate for drivers 85 and older is nine times higher than the rate for drivers ages 25-69.

Sources: American Medical Association, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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