Mature Drivers

States are beginning to look at age-based re-licensing laws and high tech driver assessment tools like driving simulators that can test an older person's vision and reaction times in a safe environment. Across the country, 19 states require older drivers (65 or 70) to renew their licenses in person, to renew them more often or to pass road and vision tests, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Some groups object to these age-based steps saying that they are age-biased. They also contend that computer based testing is intimidating to seniors who have not grown up in a computer age. But the biggest issue is increased costs for equipment and personnel in a period of economic stagnation.

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