Older drivers
The news of yet another traffic accident caused by an elderly driver, in which one person was killed and four were injured, is extremely saddening. Hazardous driving by older people seems to have become a frequent cause of traffic accidents lately.
In this case, the elderly driver is 83 years old, and he was driving despite his driving license having been revoked, resulting in casualties, and injuring himself.
One wonders if the government has any effective measure to stop such dangerous driving from happening again. An octogenarian has much less awareness and slower responses than young people.
To make matters worse, many older people have to take sleeping pills and sedatives to help them sleep. The medication’s side effects can severely affect their ability to operate machinery properly and, by extension, their driving safety.
In a car accident, when a perpetrator is older than 75 and does not hold a valid license, the victims are not able to claim compensation through compulsory automobile liability insurance.
One wonders what victims can do to receive adequate compensation and what countermeasures the government has to help curtail such incidents.
I often see older drivers contravening traffic rules on my way to work and back home between two townships.
Most of the time, elderly people in the countryside drive on the wrong side of the road to “save time” and for the sheer sake of “convenience,” without paying attention to the oncoming traffic.
I see this kind of dangerous driving as many as two to three times a day. Apparently, Taiwan has failed to implement proper traffic rule re-education for older people.
As the Taiwanese population is aging rapidly, government agencies should pay attention and provide assistance to ensure older people’s traffic and driving safety in addition to their medical care.
Lin Yi-hsin
Taipei
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