OPINION

When your hair has gone from gray to silver, your hearing is impaired, your arthritis is kicking in or your vision is depleting, this may be a good sign that you shouldn’t be driving.

The first wreck I was involved in included an elderly man who was driving a van that looks probably just as old as he was. I was heading north on Indiana Avenue in Lubbock; he turned right on red, or rather, turned right into me. That was my first car.
 

In a recent wreck, I was turning right onto Slide Road, and the old man behind me “thought I was going” and hit the back of my new car. My poor little hatchback was like a matchbox car that a little kid rams into a monster truck just for fun. No damage was done though.
 

You’ve seen them before in their Lincoln Town cars, trying to see over the wheel. There’s the old women with light blue or purple hair that matchers their eye shadow. They have bifocal lenses that seem a mile wide.
 

Old people are the most manipulating drivers, with their fragility and perceived wisdom.
When speed is a factor, they lie at both ends of the spectrum.
 

In the fast lane, you have the “mid life crisis” roadsters in their muscle cars, BMWs, and such. Most often in this category are the males. I suppose they deserve to spend their retirement money on higher priced vehicles. Most like to speed and show off by revving their engines, trying to grasp onto their younger years. Others are content with cruising down the main streets with their 20-year-old lady friends, then while at a red light, fits in the “let’s race” mentality with the ever-ready college student.
 

In the slow lane, there are the females found in the Lexus, Mercedes and Oldsmobile, go figure. I like the ones with the leopard print furs and over excessive diamonds. Oh, don’t forget the bouffant hair!
 

What are these people thinking? Do they even remember how to drive?
 

Here’s a thought: I think they should have to re-take the driving test, re-read the literature and go through the whole shebang. Driving has changed since the early ‘30s and it’s time they recognized that.
 

How is being old and senile any different from being young and inebriated? Consider the mental and physical handicaps of both. Do they differ all that much?
 

OK, maybe not all old people are like this. Actually, most of them probably aren’t. I suppose the ones that are just stick out like a sore thumb.
 

Now, I don’t hate old people. Don’t get me wrong.
 

I love my grandpa very much. He is a very capable older man who is, get this, not only able to drive, but also owns and runs his own business.
 

The point that I’m trying to make here is that some old people should not be driving. The ones that slowly swerve into the next lane, the others that go through supermarkets and run over people, they are only a hazard to themselves and to us. I do believe that at a certain age, the elderly should have to retake the driving test.
 

I know that when I see an old person on the road, I try to stay as far away from them as possible. Maybe that’s just me.