Originally Posted by mnemia

Yeah, it's always scary when you some old guy in a car with that look. I know exactly what you're talking about...they're usually staring unwaveringly forward and not looking sideways at all. I don't know if it's a cognitive or physical limitation or what, but they have no business being licensed drivers if they're no longer physically or mentally capable of maintaining situational awareness.

I would like to see improved, much more rigorous driver's license testing all around. I think that at least every 5 years, and probably more frequently past a certain age, you should have to pass an actual driving skills test that involves real driving. Instead of it being one of those silly "drive around the block" tests like I took as a teenager, I'd like to see a test that actually involves things like keeping control of the car at highway speeds, in heavy traffic, in rainy conditions, at night, etc. You should also have to undergo retraining by a professional periodically, as well. I realize that it would cost a lot of money to do all that, but it could be paid for via fees collected from drivers. I would gladly pay $500-$1000 to take a rigorous driving test if that meant that everyone else had to do so as well. This would have the nice side effect of removing a lot of idiots from the driving pool, as well as a lot of elderly and just plain unskilled people incapable of learning good driving skills. The biggest downside that I can see would be somehow keeping all the newly license-less people off of the road, but I think biometric technology might help there.