Maybe Miss Daisy needs a new driver

You slam on the brakes and hit your horn, yelling a few choice phrases at your dashboard. You quickly change lanes, fully intent on teaching the jerk who just cut you off a little sign language as you pass, but instead you see the sweet old couple from Perkins puttering along in their Buick. So instead you sigh in resignation and drive on. You can't flip the bird to Granny and Gramps, they're old!

I was on my way to Wal-Mart the other day (which is an entirely different blog in itself) and while I wasn't in a huge hurry, I still wanted to get where I was going in decent time. So I'm cruising down 2nd Ave at around 37 mph when I see almost every car in my lane switch suddenly to the other. Once the traffic cleared, I saw why. A white Taurus was puttering along ahead of me, and from the back, all I could see was a puff of white hair just barely above the seat.

I slowed down, thinking the person must be turning soon, but their blinker never came on. Their brake lights did though. Repeatedly. On every. Single. Hill. The speed limit along that stretch of 2nd is 40 mph. We were racing along at the whopping speed of 25 when they would hit their brakes and slow down to a more-cautious 20 mph while going downhill (because roads are so dangerously slick on bright sunny days). Finally, their right blinker started to flash...the only problem was it flashed for a good two blocks straight. We approached a green light and I exhaled a sigh of relief that maybe they would finally turn. Well, not quite. The car stopped. It came to a complete stop, and I slammed on my brakes while fighting back the urge to honk my horn and yell obscenities out my window. We paused at the green light for a couple seconds before the car began to inch its way around the corner just as the light went from green to yellow. I didn't make it through the stoplight.

Now, I know that someday I am going to be a senior citizen and I would be extremely upset if someone told me I was "too old to drive," but I really do believe that after a certain age, drivers should have to retake the driving test (I don't mean the written part, I mean the actual driving part) more often just to make sure they are still suitable to have a driver's license. That's my opinion anyway. If you would like to read a little more on the senior citizen driving debate, check out this article.