There was another elderly driver involved in a car accident yesterday, sending three people to a local hospital.
Seriously…what the hell is going on??
There have been so many serious accidents involving elderly drivers in the past month or so that I’ve lost count.
A 4 year old girl was hit by a car and killed in a crosswalk (driver – 89 years old), several people were injured when an elderly driver (73 years old) drove into a crowd at a Memorial Day ceremony, another little girl had to be airlifted to a Boston hospital when she was hit crossing the street, and there have been countless accidents involving elderly drivers plowing into businesses, homes, telephone poles, etc. for various ‘reasons’.
Yikes.
There’s a Massachusetts senator who is currently drafting a bill that would require testing for every 5 years for any driver older than 85. Personally, I think that’s a little bit too late….especially since most of the drivers involved in the recent accidents were not quite 85.
According to an article in the Boston Globe: “Safe Roads Now, a coalition of 15 groups that includes AAA Southern New England and AARP Massachusetts, is urging Massachusetts lawmakers And is looking to make a variety of other changes in driver licensing that would include: instituting in-person driver license renewals throughout a driver's lifespan; giving drivers a new visual screening test used in California; introducing a three-tiered system in which drivers would need to take additional tests if they fail initial tests; and flagging motorists who have a certain number of accidents over a specified time period and requiring them to take an in-person exam.”
I’m not 100% sure where I stand on the specifics of what needs to happen, but CLEARLY something has to be done….it’s really getting out of control.
Seriously…what the hell is going on??
There have been so many serious accidents involving elderly drivers in the past month or so that I’ve lost count.
A 4 year old girl was hit by a car and killed in a crosswalk (driver – 89 years old), several people were injured when an elderly driver (73 years old) drove into a crowd at a Memorial Day ceremony, another little girl had to be airlifted to a Boston hospital when she was hit crossing the street, and there have been countless accidents involving elderly drivers plowing into businesses, homes, telephone poles, etc. for various ‘reasons’.
Yikes.
There’s a Massachusetts senator who is currently drafting a bill that would require testing for every 5 years for any driver older than 85. Personally, I think that’s a little bit too late….especially since most of the drivers involved in the recent accidents were not quite 85.
According to an article in the Boston Globe: “Safe Roads Now, a coalition of 15 groups that includes AAA Southern New England and AARP Massachusetts, is urging Massachusetts lawmakers And is looking to make a variety of other changes in driver licensing that would include: instituting in-person driver license renewals throughout a driver's lifespan; giving drivers a new visual screening test used in California; introducing a three-tiered system in which drivers would need to take additional tests if they fail initial tests; and flagging motorists who have a certain number of accidents over a specified time period and requiring them to take an in-person exam.”
I’m not 100% sure where I stand on the specifics of what needs to happen, but CLEARLY something has to be done….it’s really getting out of control.
So, is this just happening in Massachusetts or do other states see the amount of accidents involving elderly drivers increasing???
Just wondering….
Enough about the elderly. :-)
It’s officially July, and the weather is still officially shitty.
I had a great night last night!
I met up with my friend Barbara from high school. She’s the gal that I reconnected with last fall (via facebook) and realized that we live about 5 minutes from each other, had been commuting on the same train every morning, and had no idea that we were both on it?
Unfortunately, she got laid off right after Christmas, which caused our daily commutes to come to an abrupt end. Sadness.
Well, we finally managed to get together for dinner and drinks and had SO much fun. In spite of all the changes she’s had to deal with, she’s doing very well and has decided to make a major career change and go back to school to become a nurse! Craziness.
It was nice to hear her so excited about it and I know she’ll do well!!!
Well, today is hump day – but it’s not really, because it’s a short week, so it’s really like Thursday, even though it’s really only Wednesday. It doesn’t really matter either way because we haven’t seen the sun for more than 2 hours in the past month and it’s going to rain all day tomorrow, which is Thursday, but it’s kind of my Friday….since it’s a short week.
I’m going to get some coffee and pretend I’m somewhere sunny.
If you’re somewhere that’s ACTUALLY sunny….enjoy a little bit of it for me.
It’s officially July, and the weather is still officially shitty.
I had a great night last night!
I met up with my friend Barbara from high school. She’s the gal that I reconnected with last fall (via facebook) and realized that we live about 5 minutes from each other, had been commuting on the same train every morning, and had no idea that we were both on it?
Unfortunately, she got laid off right after Christmas, which caused our daily commutes to come to an abrupt end. Sadness.
Well, we finally managed to get together for dinner and drinks and had SO much fun. In spite of all the changes she’s had to deal with, she’s doing very well and has decided to make a major career change and go back to school to become a nurse! Craziness.
It was nice to hear her so excited about it and I know she’ll do well!!!
Well, today is hump day – but it’s not really, because it’s a short week, so it’s really like Thursday, even though it’s really only Wednesday. It doesn’t really matter either way because we haven’t seen the sun for more than 2 hours in the past month and it’s going to rain all day tomorrow, which is Thursday, but it’s kind of my Friday….since it’s a short week.
I’m going to get some coffee and pretend I’m somewhere sunny.
If you’re somewhere that’s ACTUALLY sunny….enjoy a little bit of it for me.
3 comments:
The reason that the Massachusetts legislature doesn't do anything about dangerous elderly drivers is that the elderly VOTE in HUGE numbers. They're afraid of having a Q-tip riot at the state house! Ever been attacked by a slow moving group of people who smell like Ben-Gay? Ever been smashed in the gonads by one of those 4-pronged support canes? It hurts man....LOL
I'll send you some of our 100+ degree sunny days in trade for some of your rainy days!
OK enough complaining about the weather mister. We've had 3 weeks of 95+ weather here and hit 102 today. So BOOHOO Mr. we are getting rain. We'd kill for that here!
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