Safe Roads Now

Safe Roads Now – a coalition of more than a dozen elder advocates, medical professionals, law enforcement, academics and others – continues to call for a comprehensive solution to improve road safety that focuses on ability, not age. The group has recommended 14-points to update driver licensing standards, and supports specific legislation that will enhance medical reporting to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Ability, Not Age

Safe Roads Now believes that being a safe driver is not about age, but about ability. “To make the roads safer for everyone, driver licensing standards must focus on ability,” said Deborah Banda, AARP Massachusetts state director. “Identify those drivers with problems, and test them more frequently.

“Today, people are living longer, healthier lives,” Banda explained. “While this is positive news, advancing age may be accompanied by some form of physical or cognitive impairment. Yet, we all age differently. Health conditions and impairments do not occur universally and are not age specific. Instead, they may occur at varying times throughout our lives, and manifest in different ways.

“The aging of our population will have wide-reaching impact on everything from health care, housing and work – to transportation,” she added. “We need to fix the driver licensing system in Massachusetts to make the roads safe for everyone. And we need a comprehensive approach that provides alternatives when driving is no longer the best option.”

Between 2010 and 2020, the 65+ population in Massachusetts will grow by 37 percent, topping 1,178,000 residents, as reported by the commonwealth’s Executive Office of Elder Affairs.

Comprehensive Reform

Recently, Safe Roads Now sent a letter to Massachusetts legislators urging them to fix the broken driver licensing system and make the roads safer for everyone. The coalition calls for a comprehensive approach to improve driver licensing standards, and recommends 14 points for change, including:

1. Conduct in-person driver license renewals, throughout a driver’s career.

2. Implement a new screening test that addresses the visual contrast sensitivity, visual acuity, periphery vision, divided attention, and processing speed; the test is currently used in California.

3. Introduce a three tiered driver license renewal system, also currently used in California, whereby a driver would need to take additional testing should they fail the initial off-road testing components and ultimately may need to take a road test.

4. Implement a trigger system in which motorists who have a certain number of accidents over a specified period would be required to take an in-person exam.

Gerontologist Elizabeth Dugan, author of The Driving Dilemma: The Complete Guide for Older Drivers and Their Families said, “The current system for driver license renewal and testing is antiquated and does not fit the reality of an aging society. The current approach does not evaluate a driver’s physical and cognitive functional ability.”

“Research shows,” Dugan continued, “requiring in-person renewals is the only policy to result in a reduction in fatalities – there is no correlation between increased road testing and a decrease in fatalities.”

Currently in Massachusetts, at five year intervals, drivers may renew licenses by phone, mail or online without any testing; at ten year intervals, drivers must renew in-person at the Registry of Motor Vehicles and pass a vision test.

Safe Roads Now Supports Legislation

Safe Roads Now believes an effective medical reporting system is a strong first step to reduce crashes and increase road safety. The group supports House Bill No. 2241, An Act Relative to Impaired Drivers, which was favorably released from the Public Safety Committee. Safe Roads Now has called on the legislature to pass the bill immediately, and then incorporate medical reporting into more comprehensive reform centered on in-person driver license renewals.

During a news conference held by Rep. Kay Kahn, sponsor of H.2241, William J. Ryder, regulatory and legislative counsel for the Massachusetts Medical Society praised the bill, saying, “This legislation will give physicians a better opportunity to work with the Registry of Motor Vehicles to address the public safety issues presented by impaired drivers.”

Legislative leaders and other members of Safe Roads Now also spoke at the State House news conference.

Meanwhile, the UMASS Gerontology program, also a member of Safe Roads Now, is working to produce a roadmap for strengthening activities of the Massachusetts Medical Advisory Board and the Registry of Motor Vehicles regarding medically-at-risk drivers. To help achieve this goal, a new study is currently in progress.

Members of Safe Roads Now

AAA Southern New England
 
AARP Massachusetts
 
Alzheimer’s Association
Massachusetts/New Hampshire Chapter
 
Massachusetts Association of Councils on Aging and Senior Center Directors

Jon Bailey, TRIAD Officer
Waltham Police
 
Juergen Bludau, MD
 
Elizabeth Dugan, PhD
Assistant Professor, Gerontology
University of Massachusetts Boston
 
Lissa Robins Kapust
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Drive Wise Program
 
Massachusetts Association of Older Americans

Massachusetts Medical Society
 
Massachusetts Silver Legislature
 
Margaret O’Connor, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Harvard Medical School
 
Nina M. Silverstein, PhD
Professor of Gerontology
University of Massachusetts Boston
 
Robert Stern, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Boston University School of Medicine
 
Senior Mobility Initiative on Cape Cod

Learn More, and Share Your Thoughts

If you would like more information send an email to ma@aarp.org or call us toll free at 1-866-448-3621.