The insurance rates are often higher for teens and many perceive that they are more prone to wrecks.
Soon the teenagers become adults and the parents still worry, but they no longer face the financial burden.
But soon, the parents may face their own driving challenges.
Older drivers are being scrutinized more closely not only by insurance companies but when they renew their license.
In Illinois, drivers older than the age of 75 must take a road test to renew their license.
Georgia no longer allows anyone older than 64 to renew their license online or by mail, said Susan Sports, spokeswoman for the Georgia Driver’s License Services. And they must have their vision checked when they renew.
Not only do older drivers face more scrutiny when they renew their licenses, but they also can face higher insurance rates.
“Around 70 they are a bit higher,” said Amanda Corbin, an Allstate agent in Lindale. “But if they take a defensive driving course, they can get 10 percent off their rates.”
Gary Cordle teaches a defensive driving class in Rome for the AARP. The reason most people take it — “to get a lower insurance rate,” he said.
Recent statistics do not show that older drivers are involved in more wrecks than other age groups.
In 2008, the last year for which statistics were available, drivers ages 65 and older were involved in fewer than 10 percent of all crashes in Floyd County — 616, according to the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.
That number of crashes decreased slightly from the 2007 number which was 616.
In 2010, two drivers who were older than 80 died after a collision on Shorter Avenue.
Cpl. Greg Beck of the Floyd County Police Department said one problem with older drivers is that often they are on medication that can make them as much impaired as a DUI driver if they don’t take it or if they take too much.
“It’s like when a diabetic doesn’t take their insulin,” Beck said. “They can be just as impaired as someone who is drunk or who is high on drugs. An impairment is an impairment.”
Post a Comment