Nov 13, 2009 7:20 pm US/Eastern
Victim's Son Questions Delay Of Elderly Driver Law
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
-
-
Marie Conley was struck and killed by an elderly driver as she worked as a Boston crossing guard.
WBZ
The family of a Boston crossing guard who was killed by an elderly driver is calling for some action by lawmakers.
"She was an unbelieveable person, the most loving person ever," he said. "She was crossing a kid and saw a car coming, pushed the kid out of the way, and the car never stopped," said Michael Conley.
He says that the 87-year old driver who struck his mother Marie, had health problems, and should never have been behind the wheel.
"She had her reflective vest on in a cross walk in a school zone, there's no reason he couldn't have seen her," said Michael.
He believes his mother would be here today if reforms were in place to keep unsafe senior drivers off the road.
"I believe he had suffered a stroke and was hard of hearing and his sight was going... if there was some sort of law or regulations that said he should have been checked prior to that day, he may have not had a license and may have not been driving," said Michael.
Conley would support a bill passed by the Joint House and Senate Transportation Committte that would requires cognitive and physical testing over drivers every day starting at age 75.
"I think it would be a great idea, something to start out with. From what I know now there's nothing. People just continue to drive," said Michael.
But that bill has been held up in the House Ways and Means Committee since mid-September. No one on the committee was available to talk with us today about the hold up, but lawmakers say a major voting block, seniors have been against that age-based testing proposal.
AAPR State Director Deborah Banda supports another bill, sponsored by Rep. Kay Kahn, which would focus on ability, not age.
"AARP want to see legilsation that will truly make the roads safer for all. We need legislation that focuses on ability, not age," said Banda who supports the idea of testing people after they've had a certain number of accidents.
"That trigger procedure would, if you have more than 3 accidents in a year, you get called in for a registry test. If you fail that you may have to do an on the road driving test."
House Speaker Robert DeLeo does not support age-based testing. He says he will be working with committee chairs over the next month to come up with a suitable bill.
Conley wants to see some reform before someone else is hurt.
"Maybe it's going to take a loss of one of their own and maybe they'll do something about it. Right now they don't know how it feels, so for them it's just another law," said Michael Conley. "I feel like we've kind of been pushed aside, kind of swept under the rug. It's disappointing because we lost something we got nothing. We're not gaining anything from this. It's going to happen again."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments