A lack of rules to help keep aging drivers — and you — safer on the streets causes serious, even fatal, consequences, Scripps News Cleveland found in a recent investigative report.
So-called "mature drivers" (55+) were the most common variable in Ohio motor vehicle crashes over the last six years. State records show mature drivers were involved in 525,290 crashes between Jan. 1, 2019, and Nov. 12, 2024.
The number of crashes involving mature drivers was higher than youth-related crashes and speed-related crashes.
Despite those numbers, Ohio and other states have no special provisions to ensure older drivers are safe behind the wheel.
Ignoring the risk
"We really, as a society, mostly ignore it," said Sharona Hoffman, Case Western Reserve University, School of Law, and author of "Aging with a Plan: How a Little Thought Today Can Vastly Improve Your Tomorrow," which provides resources to help middle-aged and older adults deal with all aspects of aging, including driving.
"There is not a good legal framework that tries to identify unsafe driving and address it," she said.
Ohio is one of 13 states that does not have any regulations aimed at aging drivers on the roadways, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.
Other states have only enacted minor provisions, including more frequent license renewals and vision tests and requiring drivers to renew their licenses in person instead of by mail.
Nevada and Washington D.C. require a doctor's note for drivers over 70. Only Illinois requires drivers to take another road test after they turn 75.
Hoffman said driving decisions are mostly left to families.
"Doctors often don’t get involved in that and so it’s up to families, and that can be extremely difficult," she said.
Hoffman said older drivers often "don't want to hear they are a hazard," and families are often reluctant to engage in difficult conversations with loved ones about driving.
At the same time, more older Americans are driving.
The most recent Federal Highway Administration estimate is that there are over 34 million licensed drivers who are 70 or older in the U.S.
'If I wasn't there...'
Even serious incidents can have little or no impact on an aging driver's license.
Over the summer, Newburgh Heights Patrol Officer Russ Veverka was working his regular overnight shift on Interstate 77 when one car caught his attention.
The driver was headed northbound in the southbound lane.
At the same time, several vehicles were approaching from the opposite direction.
"The one thing I’m not going to have is another vehicle hit head-on with another vehicle in front of me," he said. "I don’t think I could handle that at all."
So from a grassy knoll near the Harvard Avenue bridge, Officer Veverka activated his overhead lights and drove onto the highway, blocking a lane.
The driver saw him and stopped.
The driver turned out to be a 65-year-old man who had been reported as a missing endangered adult earlier that day.
A 4-year-old relative was standing in the backseat with no restraints.
"Seeing that, my heart wanted to drop," Veverka said.
The driver appeared confused and kept saying he was on Interstate 480.
He had been driving around with the little boy for hours.
After stopping the wrong-way driver, Veverka submitted form 2308 to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles to request the driver take a road test.
"That's the best we can do right now," Veverka said.
But when Scripps News Cleveland reached out to the driver's wife, she told us nothing had changed.
She said her husband is still driving, including picking up the 4-year-old boy from daycare.
Jackson Township tragedy
"We all have family members that we think, 'Eh, maybe they shouldn't be driving," said Jackson Township Fire Chief Tim Berczik.
His department recently started outreach efforts to older drivers after reviewing the city's crashes over the last year.
He found mature drivers were involved in eight fatalities in the city of approximately 44,000 residents, including a crash that killed a 69-year-old grandfather in October.
Berczik said an 81-year-old woman crashed into Angello's 2 Go pizza shop when she accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal in her car.
His staff is now showing older drivers how to stay safer in their vehicles, including proper seat and mirror placement. They also encourage anyone with concerns to be retested.
"We're not talking in any way about, 'We need to take car keys away from senior folks,'" he said. "Make it a group decision that maybe we don't drive as much."
He said mature drivers can limit the distances they drive, stop driving at night, or stick to familiar areas to keep themselves and others safer on the roads.
'Life is for the young..."
Handing over your keys carries its own consequences.
"We live in a society where our autonomy often depends on driving," Hoffman said. "They won’t be able to go to doctor’s appointments as easily, and they can become socially isolated, which is catastrophic for anyone, but especially older people."
"If you are lonely, if you are not engaging with other people, that is a sure recipe for cognitive decline and other physical and mental health problems," she said.
In a recent law review article, "Patient Autonomy, Public Safety, and Drivers with Cognitive Decline," Hoffman and her co-author recommended doctors be required to send patients diagnosed with cognitive decline and other conditions for road tests.
Right now, medical professionals are only encouraged to notify the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles about their concerns about a patient's driving.
However, Scripps News Cleveland found only 18% of those drivers lost their licenses.
Hoffman also said law enforcement officers should be trained to identify cognitive decline and report problem drivers.
"I've had relatives who've driven into mailboxes, lamp posts, and parked cars and each time they have just gotten a warning or a ticket," she said.
76-year-old Brook Park resident Rose Ramsey said she isn't as confident in her driving skills as she used to be.
"Once in a blue moon, I kind of forget the route that I was going," she said. "I'm planning on going a certain place and then I just kind of have to let the car lead the way."
When she is worried about taking the wheel, she relies on her husband of 56 years, Kenneth.
"I have my own chauffeur," she said.
She supports requiring drivers to be retested as they get older.
"John Q. Public and myself needs to be safe," she said.
Ramsey said she knows that means she and her husband will eventually have to give up their own car keys.
She admits it will not be easy.
"I know it would be very difficult for us and yet I do understand that time is coming," she said. "Life is for the young, isn't it?"
What should you do?
If you're concerned about a loved one's driving abilities, Hoffman and Berczik both recommend the following:
- Be compassionate during your conversation
- Be a passenger so you can observe their driving skills
- Be proactive by involving their doctor, encouraging your loved one to get retested and/or set limits on when and how they drive
This story was originally published by Sarah Buduson at Scripps News Cleveland.