That's why some older drivers get defensive whenever someone suggests testing them more frequently to make sure that they are still able to safely operate a car on our increasingly congested roads. Some drivers feel these efforts are a thinly disguised attempt to get all seniors out from behind the wheel. That's not true.
 

In fact, at least three advocacy groups for seniors are backing a bill that would require drivers older than 75 to pass a vision test every three years and pass both a vision test and a traffic knowledge test, sometimes called a written test, every two years after age 85. The tests would be free.

The Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups, AARP Wisconsin and the Alzheimer's Association of Wisconsin helped to craft the legislation to ensure that the concerns of seniors were being addressed, according to Rep. Sheldon Wasserman (D-Milwaukee), the bill's lead sponsor and a physician.

One reason such testing is needed is that driver's licenses are issued for eight years in Wisconsin - the only state with such a long renewal cycle that doesn't test older drivers more frequently. Clearly, a lot can happen in eight years to an older driver's vision and cognitive or thinking skills. A study published last year showed that even people with mild Alzheimer's made more errors behind the wheel than older drivers who didn't have Alzheimer's. The growing incidence of the disease and other dementia among seniors, much of it undiagnosed, explains why the Alzheimer's Association is backing this bill - not to punish the cognitively impaired but to protect them and others.
 

As Wasserman points out, the so-called written test is a good way to determine if a person's cognitive skills have deteriorated to the point where he or she should not be driving.

Some seniors argue that older drivers tend to drive more slowly - and thus more safely - than younger drivers.

But state highway statistics show that Wisconsin's oldest drivers have a higher accident rate per miles driven than any other group except for teenagers and that drivers 80 and older are involved in more fatal crashes than any other group, including those 16 to 19. For those 85 and older, fatal crashes per 100 million miles driven are "four to five times higher" than any other group, Wasserman pointed out.

"This was never meant to be punitive" to older drivers, Wasserman said, noting that the bill also calls for state transportation officials to study how to make roads safer for older drivers.

The bill should become law.