Danger of elderly drivers becomes old news
Michael Graham
DNN Staff - EXCLUSIVE!
Monday, Jul. 20, 2009
It’s not funny anymore.
Another confused 84-year-old behind the wheel. Another child - a 23-month-old in a stroller - sent to the hospital. And that pathetic bunch on Beacon Hill we jokingly call “leaders” are still sitting on their aspirations.
For awhile, I was yukkin’ it up over our elderly driver problem and Massachusetts’ refusal to regulate them in any way. I had fun mocking them with sound bites from Grandpa Simpson on my radio show (“The metric system is a tool of the devil!”) and writing song parodies like “Wal-Mart Got Run Over By My Grandma.”
But yesterday, reading the story of two boys and their grandmother hit in a Medfield crosswalk, I didn’t laugh, smirk or roll my eyes. Instead, I got really, really mad.
I got mad because I realized that this isn’t going to end. Thanks to our gutless Legislature, I’m going to be reading the same headline tomorrow, or next week, or next month. And nothing is going to change.
This “joke” of a policy - of letting 90-year-olds drive around like they’re 29-year-olds - should have ended a long time ago.
It should have been over in October 2007 when a 76-year-old plowed through the lobby of a Brockton medical office and killed a doctor and a secretary.
Over when an 86-year-old hit a little girl at a Randolph school on the day of the 2008 presidential primary.
Over last month when a 93-year-old turned a Danvers Wal-Mart into an open-air market, almost killing a 1-year-old in the process.
And when 4-year-old Diya Patel was killed in Stoughton a month ago, something absolutely should have been done then.
Instead, we got deju vu all over again in Medfield.
It’s like we’re living the government version of the movie “Groundhog Day,” where the same stupid thing keeps happening and nobody does anything to stop it.
I’ve had it. I’m sick and tired of asking “How many headlines will it take?” when I know that for our spineless legislators, the answer is always going to be “one more.”
Those hacks who head the transportation committee, Sen. Steven A. Baddour and Rep. Joseph Wagner, have had years to take legislative action. Instead, Wagner still publicly insists that there is no age-based driving problem and, therefore, he opposes an age-based solution.
House Speaker Bob DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray are even worse. If they cared about stopping the carnage, they could have a senior road testing bill passed in a day. That’s how long it took Beacon Hill to act when they thought then-Gov. Mitt Romney might appoint a GOP replacement for John Kerry in 2004.
But it is Gov. Deval Patrick’s lack of leadership that is truly a disgrace. He has said he would sign a bill if it gets to his desk. But a real leader would be in Medfield today, with every TV camera in tow. Pointing at that blood-stained crosswalk, he would demand immediate action from the Legislature, and promise to show up at the scene of every future accident and do the same.
This cowardice has gone beyond comedic fodder. It’s getting real people hurt, and more will be hurt tomorrow. And as long as Beacon Hill does nothing, they bear part of the responsibility.
There is more than just blood on the streets. There is blood on their hands.
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