Mandatory driving tests for Illinois' older adults are unnecessary and unfair

I took my first and only road test for a driver’s license in the 1970s.

I was in my 20s and was about to buy a new AMC Gremlin. I would have to drive to the South Side from a car dealership on the Far North Side.

I read the Rules of the Road and took several driving lessons before heading to a secretary of state driver's facility.

Needless to say, I was anxious when I got behind the wheel. But the stranger with the clipboard turned out to be kinder than he looked.

I still remember the advice he gave me before he told me I passed the road test.

“Ma’am, I hope you are planning on taking more lessons,” he said.

Now, on the verge of turning age 75, I am almost ready to relinquish that license and give the wheel to my grandchildren — but not for the reasons you might think.

Driving has become scary because too many motorists are breaking the rules.

They cut you off. They run red lights. They speed through stop signs. They drive with their eyes on their cell phones and they race through intersections like characters in a "Mad Max" movie.

While there’s a debate about the growing number of seniors behind the wheel and what that means for traffic safety, these young road warriors are the real culprits making our roads unsafe.

Yes, there’s the occasional story about a senior who put their foot on the gas when they intended to brake.

But just about every night, news stations report a fatal car crash, a hit-and-run, or a vehicle that slammed into someone’s home or business.

Those aren’t seniors fleeing the scene.

Yet, Illinois has the toughest regulations for behind-the-wheel skills tests.

A report released several months ago by the office of the Illinois Secretary of State claimed seniors are among the safest drivers of any age category.

I believe that.

My friends and I generally stay out of fast lanes and avoid night driving and road warriors.

After a safety study by the secretary of state’s office concluded senior drivers are the safest drivers of any age group, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias proposed tweaking the testing requirements for seniors.

Under current law, Illinois drivers 79 and 80 must take a driving test if their license has expired. From age 81 to 86, they have to take a road test every two years, and after 87, it’s every year.

State Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, the sponsor of proposed legislation to eliminate the mandatory tests, points out the “biggest danger on the state’s roads is careless and speeding drivers.”

Recently, the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board addressed this issue, urging legislators to “find ways to treat senior drivers fairly while focusing more on reining in the dangerous drivers.”

Even though Keicher managed to get 45 co-sponsors, the bill was relegated to the rules committee, considered a graveyard for proposed legislation.

Michael Macakanja, a retired bank director, is among the opponents publicly disputing the safety study’s conclusion:

“Seniors get in fewer accidents per capita for only two reasons: They drive less, and the testing we have in place is actually helping to remove (and protect) the more dangerous drivers," he said in an email.

He added, "the proposed legislation to relax testing on seniors will kill people."

No, it is the reckless behavior of bad drivers that kill people.

We are the generation that prioritized auto safety.

We made buckling up second nature, taught our children to cross at the light, showed our teens how to use the passing lane and made drinking and driving socially unacceptable.

When it’s time to hang up our keys, most seniors will do the responsible thing.