Now the title sounds very suspicious. What government, in their right mind, is going to go around giving people birthday presents?
On my next birthday I will be 75. Here , driver's licences are renewed every five years on your birthday. At age 75 , in this province, you must get a medical before they will issue you another licence. Now the medical is free! So there you have it. The province gave me a medical for my 75th birthday. I've already taken advantage of my gift and had my medical and will be going down to renew my licence shortly.
Now the medical was cursory at best. I was given a basic eye test from the chart. My blood pressure was taken and a number of questions asked and check marks put in the appropriate box. That's all folks. I can now drive for another five years unless something incredibly severe happens.
This last while I keep noticing poor drivers. I don't know whether drivers are getting worse or if I'm getting crankier. People seem to be doing really stupid things on a regular basis. This week I was at a red light on a one way street. The person on my left was stopped beside me. Then for some reason they just started to cross the intersection and proceed through the red light. I couldn't believe it. Twice this week I've had to come to a stop when some one is stopped and either lost or trying to find out where to go. People do not seem to have any ideas of the basic rules for driving. I could go on.
Maybe, the medical should be stricter and IQ's taken? Maybe a driver's written and road test should be done every year? Here it seems anybody and everybody gets a licence to drive no matter what.
So as a senior I want to continue to drive, but I want to drive at a high skill level so that I'm safe and everybody else is safe.
Are drivers getting worse or am I just being super critical?
