Amendment of rules for driving license
Limiting the age of license for the senior citizens will be adding to their hardships. Only physical fitness should determine the issuance or renewal of license to them.
THE GOVERNMENT of India, it is believed, is considering limiting the age of senior citizens for issuance of driving license to 72-75 years. A proposal to fix the minimum age of the youth is also simultaneously under consideration. In most road rage cases it is the youth that are responsible and not the older people. It can’t be denied that the number of such young persons is very small and the modern youth are very sensible and responsible and blaming all would be wrong.
The senior citizens on the other hand are more cautious and responsible than the young while driving. They obey traffic rules as they have seen life and respect it in others. Limiting their age for issuance of driving license will not only result in a lot of hardship to them but will also curtail their liberty. In retired life most senior citizens have to fend for themselves, their sons or daughters having left them to live their own life.
Their finances are limited in quite a large number of cases. If they are not allowed to drive their own vehicles, they will have to depend on others, especially drivers that are not only hard to find, but are also expensive and risky to employ. There have been cases where the drivers were involved in robbing and murdering or abetting murder of senior citizens. In these circumstances if the physically fit aged people are not given the facility of a driving license, it would be like crippling them and adding to their dependence on others resulting in enhancement of their misery. Their mobility would be limited or expenditure on transport charges in day to day life would mount. It is very disturbing to visualize an old person sitting helplessly at home for essential chores involving visits to the bazaar, to some office or to the bank or just to go to see somebody.
“Putting a maximum age limit on the privilege of driving in the United States unfairly targets a segment of the population with little statistical evidence supporting increased safety to our roads. Once a driver's license is issued, renewal should be based on the ability to drive responsibly.
Illness, medication, distractions, decreased spatial awareness, exhaustion, slowed reaction times, and vision problems are safety factors that affect drivers of all ages, putting drivers, passengers and pedestrians at risk” An American view
The argument quoted above is equally valid in India. In America one can’t imagine moving out without one’s own vehicle. There are no buses and most families own more than one car. There is not and there can’t be any special transport system anywhere in the world for senior citizens, who do not live in one place and live in isolated places. For the physically and mentally fit senior citizens car driving is very essential. The Govt. would do well to seek opinion of NGO doing social service in this regard. But it is clear that drawing a line arbitrarily to fix the limit of age of the senior citizens for a driving license would be wrong and an injustice to them making the life of the fit ones’ miserable.
Their finances are limited in quite a large number of cases. If they are not allowed to drive their own vehicles, they will have to depend on others, especially drivers that are not only hard to find, but are also expensive and risky to employ. There have been cases where the drivers were involved in robbing and murdering or abetting murder of senior citizens. In these circumstances if the physically fit aged people are not given the facility of a driving license, it would be like crippling them and adding to their dependence on others resulting in enhancement of their misery. Their mobility would be limited or expenditure on transport charges in day to day life would mount. It is very disturbing to visualize an old person sitting helplessly at home for essential chores involving visits to the bazaar, to some office or to the bank or just to go to see somebody.
“Putting a maximum age limit on the privilege of driving in the United States unfairly targets a segment of the population with little statistical evidence supporting increased safety to our roads. Once a driver's license is issued, renewal should be based on the ability to drive responsibly.
Illness, medication, distractions, decreased spatial awareness, exhaustion, slowed reaction times, and vision problems are safety factors that affect drivers of all ages, putting drivers, passengers and pedestrians at risk” An American view
The argument quoted above is equally valid in India. In America one can’t imagine moving out without one’s own vehicle. There are no buses and most families own more than one car. There is not and there can’t be any special transport system anywhere in the world for senior citizens, who do not live in one place and live in isolated places. For the physically and mentally fit senior citizens car driving is very essential. The Govt. would do well to seek opinion of NGO doing social service in this regard. But it is clear that drawing a line arbitrarily to fix the limit of age of the senior citizens for a driving license would be wrong and an injustice to them making the life of the fit ones’ miserable.
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