Curb Older Drivers? Missouri Campaign Aims to Reduce Risk

The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety unveiled a campaign last week designed to encourage medical professionals, educators and drivers themselves to look for and identify signs that an older driver is no longer equipped to get behind the wheel.

The program hasn't come to the St. Louis area yet. It's being piloted in Columbia and Springfield. After evaluation, it may roll out statewide.

The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety’s (kick-off event in Columbia) featured two state residents who lost a family member in traffic fatalities caused by older drivers.

The program aims to train doctors, nurses and peer educators to identify vulnerable seniors whose medical conditions may unknowingly pose safety threats.

It seems to be a recurring question: Should drivers lose their licenses after a certain age? Do older drivers pose more of a threat than, say, drivers the age my kids—17 and 21?

The Centers for Disease Control has taken the time to assemble statistics on the issue of older drivers and their risk. It's site notes that in 2008, more than 5,500 older adults were killed and 183,000 injured in crashes—15 deaths and 500 injuries daily.

And according to the Associated Press story on the Missouri campaign:

Missouri Department of Transportation reported 126 traffic deaths statewide in 2012 involving drivers 65 and older. Another 435 older Missourians were seriously injured while driving last year, with another 3,500 less serious injuries among older drivers. People 55 and older accounted for more than one in four traffic deaths in Missouri last year.

MoDOT numbers from 2000 show that younger drivers had substantially higher crash rates. The state has also taken steps to develop graduated drivers licenses for younger drivers and other measures to try and reduce rates there.

Should more be done to curb older drivers? What's the right way to address the issue of drivers becoming too infirm to get behind the wheel? Have you had to deal with this issue with a family member or friend? How did you do it?