I will mark a significant anniversary next month. It will be 48 years since I took a test for my driver’s license in the province of Manitoba. I was in my last year of high school, the Beatles were everywhere on the radio, and Lester Pearson was Prime Minister.
Would I take such a test today? I’m thinking not without a lesson or two. The debate about retesting older drivers was recently revived when a 10 year Winnipeg girl was very seriously injured when she was hit by an 86 year old man who was backing up at high speed.
The evidence shows that older drivers are not the group responsible for the most accidents, but it should be abundantly clear by now that all of us should be required to pass more than one driving test in our lifetime.
Driving a vehicle should not be as risky as it is. We should not have to worry about others on the road who have poor skills or no skills, or about those who drive drunk or distracted because of talking on the phone.
We could make our city streets and highways a lot safer, IF we were prepared to pay more in taxes and license fees. If drivers were tested more often, and there were more police dedicated strictly to going after bad drivers we would all be safer. We would also be safer if the prairie provinces followed Quebec’s lead and made winter tires mandatory.
All of these measures would cost money and they are not likely to be implemented by politicians who have to face the voters every four years.
We already have cars that park themselves, and some day we may reach a point where all vehicles drive themselves. Until then, driving can and will be a very scary business, so be careful out there.
I’m Roger Currie
You can listen to Roger Currie’s commentary by clicking on the link below:
