One of the best days of any teenager’s life: getting their driver’s license. In New Jersey, a teenager will be entered into a Driver’s Ed course at 16, where they must complete 6 hours of driving with a driving instructor before receiving a driver’s permit. A young driver must have this probationary driver’s permit for a minimum of 6 months. Once 6 months have passed and the young driver has turned 17, they are now eligible for a probationary driver’s license. After passing the driver’s test on your 17th birthday in the state of New Jersey, you have become licensed for life.
In other countries, driver’s licenses are frequently retested after a person reaches a certain age. In Japan and Australia, after someone turns 75, they must be retested and receive periodical retests. In France, people are tested when they are 60 and then in 2-year increments after that. While some countries, like France, Japan, and Australia, focus on retesting the licenses of the elderly, Italy has started health checks for drivers under the age of 50. It is simple to see how the elderly can be a danger on the roads as they are not at peak health, and many lack updated eye tests. However, most car accidents are caused by drunk driving. So, if drunk driving causes the most car accidents, should the retesting of drivers have an age restriction? However, none of these suggestions have been passed into law yet, which raises the question of whether we should retest our drivers.
Laws of the Road
To be a legal and licensed driver on the roads, you must have completed a list of things:
- A written test
- A road test
- An updated vision test
Both the written and road tests are typically administered and completed in a driver’s teenage years. What is frequently brushed over is the vision test. Not personally required for driving, many people schedule yearly check-ins with doctors to keep their health up to date. When someone fails their vision test, they have to get glasses or contacts. People who already wear glasses or contacts from a young age continue to get updated vision tests to see if they need to increase or decrease the intensity of their prescription. So wouldn’t it make sense that if you are periodically being retested on your vision, you should also be retested on your knowledge and awareness of the road?
Elders’ Licenses
Aligned with the laws of the road are vision tests. Due to old age, many old people have not received updated vision tests. Even if they have updated vision tests, their sense of vision and hearing are less alert at this age in life. Hearing is also an important sense to have on the road. The unspoken law of the road is alertness. Whether you are T-boned or end up in a head-on collision, and whether you are at fault or not, many fatal accidents can be prevented by the alertness of the driver. There have been accidents where people have been unable to hear sirens, car horns, or see oncoming traffic due to other distractions. The unspoken law of the road is alertness, which many older people lack. Impairments such as glasses and hearing aids aren’t enough to make the roads navigable for elders.
Along with the issue of alertness is the concern over drivers’ reaction times. With weakened senses, the reaction time of drivers can be a lot slower. Delayed reaction times, along with delayed senses and reflexes, can increase the chances of car accidents. Without the full ability to pay attention to the roads, elders are impairing their safety by driving on clearly expired licenses.
Drunk Driving
Retesting driver’s licenses to target drunk driving would make the roads a lot safer. Ways to limit drunk driving could include higher penalties for those charged with a first-time or repeated offense and retesting those charged with a DUI or DWI with another written and road test. Administering another test or having them repeat the process of acquiring a license would ideally induce a sense of accountability in the offender. By making them aware of their offenses, it would hopefully make them more alert to their actions and the laws of the road. Requiring repeated testing of licenses could also act as a deterrent for offenders from future instances of drunk driving and hopefully discourage them from getting behind the wheel next time they are intoxicated.
Intervention by each state could prevent the instances and frequency of DUIs/DWIs. If an offender has repeated instances of a DUI/DWI, the state can intervene and arrange for the person to receive rehab, counseling, or have their license temporarily suspended until it is determined that they are safe on the roads. Studies have shown that in areas regulated by local government where heavier fines and restrictions have been imposed on those charged with a DUI/DWI, not only has the incidence of drunk driving and DUIs/DWIs significantly decreased, but the general drinking culture in that area has shifted as well. Some states have started administering sobriety checks to determine if an offender is safe to continue driving. In other states, after being charged with a single or repeated DUI/DWI offense, police may install an ignition interlock device (IID) to prevent a driver’s vehicle from starting if they are intoxicated.
The periodic retesting of licenses would ensure the safest drivers are on the road and live up to the standard and most important rule of the road—alertness. Regular testing can remove high-risk populations of people who are on the roads a lot, such as elderly people, while also picking out those who lack the alertness or sobriety to have the privilege of using a driver’s license. To prioritize the safety of the public, driver’s licenses should be habitually retested in 2- to 5-year increments to ensure the safety of civilians on the roads. The retesting of licenses could shift the culture of driving from being seen as a right unlocked at the age of 17 to a privilege that requires being conscious and respectful of everyday life.
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