As the number of Baby Boomers entering their sixties increases, the need for continuing driver education for senior drivers will increase as well. A 2007 USA Today report indicated that drivers 65 and older were involved in 72% more automobile s than just eight years previously. That figure does not necessarily mean that older drivers are more reckless than they were in 1999; it could simply mean that there are more drivers over 65, a statistic which will continue to grow.
While many senior drivers are extremely safety conscious, they may not be able to compensate for the slower reflexes which normally accompany the aging process. The drivers licensing exams in all stated require that drivers pass a vision test, but they do nothing to test for reaction speed. But millions of seniors lead active, productive lives; many of them still work for a living; and to arbitrarily deprive them of the ability to drive would be disastrous for everyone.
The AARP Solution
AARP, the American Association of Retired Person, offers a solution in the form of AARP defensive driving classes. The AARP Driver Safety Class, which would be more appropriately named the AARP Defensive...