BOSTON -- Massachusetts House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran thinks the state should consider more frequent tests of drivers 70 years of age or older, despite statistics from the Automobile Insurers Bureau showing that elderly drivers have a better record overall than less experienced drivers.
"The larger public interest has to prevail ... not the smaller, narrow interest of one individual who says, 'Oh, I've driven all my life, I want to keep driving to the store," Finneran said Thursday while hosting a radio show on Boston's WRKO radio.
Finneran's comments come in the wake of Wednesday's accident in Santa Monica, Calif., where an 86-year-old man drove a car through a busy farmers' market, eventually causing 10 deaths and dozens of injuries.
Current state law in Massachusetts does not require older drivers to be tested any more frequently than younger people, who are subject to vision tests when they renew their licenses every five years.
The Massachusetts chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons does not support targeted testing of older drivers without hard data.
"If age can be connected to risk, then of course that would be appropriate to do that," said Jessica Constantino, AARP advocacy director. "However, we don't know exactly what age to set an assessment."
The Registry of Motor Vehicles has an outreach coordinator to teach seniors about safe driving, and "voluntary" complaints can be filed by police officers, doctors and relatives, RMV spokesman David Shaw said.
However Massachusetts is a self-reporting state in which only the driver has the power to relinquish a license -- and voluntary complaints can lead to lawsuits, said Dr. Dawn M
"The larger public interest has to prevail ... not the smaller, narrow interest of one individual who says, 'Oh, I've driven all my life, I want to keep driving to the store," Finneran said Thursday while hosting a radio show on Boston's WRKO radio.
Finneran's comments come in the wake of Wednesday's accident in Santa Monica, Calif., where an 86-year-old man drove a car through a busy farmers' market, eventually causing 10 deaths and dozens of injuries.
Current state law in Massachusetts does not require older drivers to be tested any more frequently than younger people, who are subject to vision tests when they renew their licenses every five years.
The Massachusetts chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons does not support targeted testing of older drivers without hard data.
"If age can be connected to risk, then of course that would be appropriate to do that," said Jessica Constantino, AARP advocacy director. "However, we don't know exactly what age to set an assessment."
The Registry of Motor Vehicles has an outreach coordinator to teach seniors about safe driving, and "voluntary" complaints can be filed by police officers, doctors and relatives, RMV spokesman David Shaw said.
However Massachusetts is a self-reporting state in which only the driver has the power to relinquish a license -- and voluntary complaints can lead to lawsuits, said Dr. Dawn M