Reasons to end mandatory driver’s tests

An open letter to state lawmakers:

I strongly urge you to work for passage of legislation that will end the current mandatory driver’s road test for senior citizens aged 79 and older. It is wrong for the following reasons:

1. The current law is totally based on age discrimination and not on the individual’s driving record.

2. In 2022 a survey of Illinois motorists showed that drivers 75 and older have the second lowest crash rate in the state. The safest motorists were people age 70 to 74.

3. Data from AARP, the Illinois secretary of state, and other states show that elderly drivers are actually very safe drivers.

4. Drivers with the highest crash rate are 18 to 24 years old. Yet, they get automatic renewal every four years.

5. The current appointment system required for road tests is not working effectively. Available appointment dates are almost impossible for seniors and much of the general public to find. The recently opened senior only offices in Evanston and Bridgeview are not convenient to all senior drivers who don’t want or need to drive 20 miles or more to take a driver road test renewal.

6. The volume of unnecessary senior road testing is clogging up the overcrowded drivers state testing facilities.

7. Forty-nine other states do not require repeated unnecessary road testing of senior citizens.

Retesting rules in Illinois should be based on an individual’s driving record and not based on age. Drivers of all ages, not just seniors, should be monitored for volume of accidents and tickets. Those drivers with unsafe driving records are the drivers who should be required to retest more frequently. Seniors with no accidents or tickets should be allowed to maintain automatic renewal for four years and not be required to retest every year.

I look forward to tracking progress on this legislation and strongly encourage readers to support passage in Illinois.

Carol Neufeldt

Mount Prospect