Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie

(WARNING: ANGER ahead.)

It seems to me that certain activities, the mucking-up of which can do serious damage to people and property, should not be granted on a "lifetime" basis but instead subject to repeat testing every so often.

Such as, oh, elderly people driving.

When I was in Driver's Ed, it was drummed into my skull (by the most droning instructor you can possibly imagine) that "Driving is a privilege, not a right". Yesterday's incident is far from the first such horror, and it's not going to be the last. So I think that people should be subject to retesting as a requisite of maintaining their driver's license -- everyone, that is, but with the frequency of retesting going up as one's age goes up.

Yes, it's a knee-jerk response; yes, it involves governmental intrustion; yes, it involves bureaucrats, yada yada yada. I don't care. I've been in too many close calls with elderly drivers who drove too fast in parking lots, or back out of driveways without looking, or don't move over one inch when I'm walking or bicycling, or set up camp in the leftmost thruway lane and then go 56 mph, or tailgate, or make no attempt to allow for the dimensions of their vehicle when parking, or playing the "Who, me?" game after they've managed to hit another object or person with their car.

I know that the elderly value their independence and whatnot. But I also know that one particular gentleman apparently confused the gas pedal with the brake, and that nine people -- including a three year old girl -- are dead today because of it.