Jun 27, 2009 1:30 pm US/Eastern
Driver In Girl's Death Involved In '92 Fatal Crash
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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4-year-old Diya Patel was killed while riding her scooter in a crosswalk.
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The elderly driver facing charges for the
death of a 4-year-old Stoughton girl was also behind the wheel in a crash that killed her own husband, The Boston Herald reported Friday.
Police say 88-year-old Isle Horn hit and killed Diya Patel while she was in a crosswalk earlier this month. Her driver's license has been revoked.
The Herald reports that in 1992, Horn crashed her car in California, killing her husband.
She was never charged in that crash. A coroner's report said she apparently fell asleep at the wheel.
PROPOSAL FOR NEW RULES
State Sen. Brian Joyce, whose district includes Stoughton, has been pushing for years for legislation to require further testing for elderly drivers. He hopes to get a hearing this week for a bill that would require drivers 85 and older to take road and vision tests when it's time to renew their license.
"The current law is just crazy," he said. "Here in Massachusetts, we take a drivers' test at age 16-and-a-half and then never again. The only requirement under current law is that a person pass a very simple vision test every 10 years. Essentially, if you can tell the difference between red and green at age 90 then you're good to go until you're 100, and that's crazy."
Referring to a recent series of high-profile accidents involving elderly drivers, culminating in the death of Diya Patel, Joyce said, "If this doesn't get us to act, I don't know what the hell will."
RECENT CRASHES
In the last two weeks there have two other very serious accidents apparently caused by senior drivers.
In Plymouth, a 73-year-old woman crashed into a crowd that had gathered at the Vietnam Moving Wall. Seven people were injured, though none of the injuries were life threatening.
In Danvers, a one-year-old was critically injured when a car driven by a 93-year-old man crashed through the front of Wal-Mart.
The drivers in all three accidents had their licenses revoked by the Registry of Motor Vehicles, citing an 'immediate threat'.
According to the Registry of Motor Vehicles, there are currently 183,000 licensed drivers in the state 80-years and older.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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