Jun 30, 2009 6:49 am US/Eastern
Should Elderly Drivers Be Re-Tested?
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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A one-year-old girl was hurt when an elderly driver slammed his car into a Wal-Mart in Danvers June 2.
Anthony Mandia/WBZ
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Lawmakers on Beacon Hill will take up the issue of retesting elderly drivers on Tuesday.
The hearing before the Joint Transportation Committee is expected to be emotional, as the father of a four-year old girl who was struck and killed by an elderly driver is scheduled to testify.
"If these accidents and these needless deaths don't bring about some action, I don't know what will," said state Sen. Brian Joyce (D) of Milton who is sponsoring the bill.
Joyce is proposing mandatory driving tests every five years for people 85 years and older.
Current law requires only a vision test every ten years.
"Current law is crazy," he said. "We take a drivers test at 16-and-a-half and then never again."
Joyce is expecting a large crowd at the hearing.
Among those testifying will be the father of
four-year-old Diya Patel.
Diya was struck and killed by a car in Stoughton earlier this month. The car was driven by an 88-year-old woman.
"Now it's time to pass some common sense legislation that saves older persons lives and also some other innocent bystanders," said Joyce.
About half of states nationwide have specific rules for elderly drivers.
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