Deerfield-News.com-Deerfield Beach,Fl-The tragic death of a Boca Raton senior citizen killed at a Tri Rail crossing raises driving license questions.
An 87-year-old woman died Friday morning after her car was struck by a TriRail train at the Yamato Road crossing, Boca Raton city police said.
The elderly woman was driving east on Yamato Road at about 8:30 a.m. when she drove through the railroad-crossing gates and her red car was hit by the southbound Trirail train, Boca PD said.The victim Eunace Bernard was 87 a Boca Raton resident was driving alone,no injuries on the train have been reported.
Since the seventies Florida legislators have been grappling with pressure from lobbyists for Seniors to not tighten driving restrictions and retesting for older drivers
.As a Florida driver since age 15,even though I was a New Jersey resident this problem existed when my grandparents first moved to Florida in the seventies.
The Senior Citizen lobbying efforts have stifled Florida lawmakers from really dealing with this situation.Today I am the son of a 84 year old dad who I had to take the keys away from recently.
Best I can tell if you want to stop your elderly parents from driving you are more or less on your own.
There seems to be no way to stop them if they choose not to hand over the keys..Because of Florida’s easy mail in driver license renewal unless you have the scheduled eye exam the State of Florida is weak in retesting elderly drivers road skills and eyes.When faced with how do I get dad to stop driving it seems The State of Florida does not offer a lot of options for concerned family members.I as a Florida resident living here daily see what all Florida drivers face, no not drunk drivers,not our teenage texting and driving children,but our driving slow and without good reflexes parents” DRIVING WHILE OLD” drivers on the roads of Florida.Many of these seniors have children that live out of state and do not see how they drive or better drive with them.
By the time i had discovered my dads driving skills were dangerous thankfully it was not too late.As a citizen of Florida I ask the legislators to take a look and come up with a solution that allows for RE-TESTING to assure our elderly drivers are still safe.My mechanic at Complete Auto in Pompano says the state has a retest program, I have been unable to find out how one gets someone they suspect or know is not driving well off Florida’s roads for everyone’s safety.
