In one of our friend Howard Mansfield’s many wonderful books, there’s a piece that’s on my mind for reasons that will become apparent if you read on. It’s the funny/not funny accounting of some of the crazy things that drivers of a certain age in his tranquil town of Hancock, New Hampshire do to/with their cars which, by any objective standards, they should no longer be driving. Driving into a ditch on a clear day with no other cars in sight is funny if no one is injured, not funny if the outcome is less benign.
We spend a blissful few weeks in Hancock every summer, so I can tell you that the town offers no public transportation, nor does it provide access to rideshare services. Very few people live within walking distance to shopping or medical services, so what is an 80-something person living alone or with an equally aging spouse to do except hang on tightly to those keys. Some cursory research indicates the following:
Drivers aged 72 and older must renew their licenses every five years and undergo a vision test at each renewal. Online or mail renewals are not permitted for those 72 and older. While a road test was previously required for drivers 75 and older, it is no longer mandated. New Hampshire also emphasizes safety for older drivers, providing resources and recommendations for maintaining safe driving habits.
Remember, we’re talking about the Live Free or Die state, so the fewer constraints on individual behavior the better. It’s clear that a driving test used to be required, so it would be interesting to know what kind of political pressure was exerted to eliminate it. It’s also striking that the interval between tests is five years. A lot can happen during that long a stretch, particularly when we’re talking about people in their 80s, like Rosellen and me.
Which brings us to the impetus for this piece. Illinois requires both a driving and a vision test every two years for drivers over 80 and a yearly test for those over 86! Both of us are due for renewal in the next month or two and I’m about to call for an appointment. The brief intervals between tests are a bloody nuisance, even though the Department of Motor Vehicles in this state is a kinder institution than in other places. Nonetheless, we respect the benefits of these regulations for the common good, a term fast going out of style for so many areas of public life.
Periodically, when we’re driving, I ask Rosellen if she continues to feel safe with me at the wheel and if she has seen anything that concerns her. Although I’m feeling confident about my driving, I recognize that I may not be the best judge of my skills. So far, I’ve gotten a thumbs up from her, as I did from my daughter and son-in-law when I posed the same question to them on a recent visit. I should say that Rosellen is at least as good a driver as I, but she’s ceded most of the driving to me when we’re together. She is increasingly more wary of driving at night, which so far hasn’t been a problem for me. In fact, because night driving is more of a challenge, I am especially awake and vigilant in those situations.
Like many New Yorkers, I came to driving later than most suburban and country kids. It was only when I left the city for graduate school that I got my license and eventually bought a car. On the one hand, the late start has always made driving feel less natural to me, but on the other hand it may have instilled in a brain more fully formed than that of a sixteen-year-old a greater sense of caution and good judgment. There’s nothing more terrifying to me than killing or injuring someone as a result of my driving. That fear will persist until I finally quit. So far so good, and I hope I haven’t jinxed myself by mentioning it.
I spoke earlier about the absence of rideshare options in places like New Hampshire. When Uber first launched, one of its strongest selling points was that it would provide a safe option for older drivers who need to stop driving but who fear the isolation resulting from the lack of transportation. Owning, maintaining and driving a car is ridiculously expensive, and if you set aside even a small portion of that money to pay for Uber or Lyft rides if you live in a place unlike Hancock where they are available, relying on rideshare services would be economical as well as safe. Sad to say, I don’t know too many of my contemporaries who are making that choice. I’m not ready to quit yet, so it remains to be seen whether I’ll follow my own advice when the time comes. Meanwhile, I’m off to make an appointment for our license renewal.
