WEBVTT - Should We Retest Licensed Drivers Periodically?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel bomb here. If you drive a car, or

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes take cabs or lifts, or have ever been around cars,

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<v Speaker 1>you've likely had at least a few frustrating or scary

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<v Speaker 1>experiences with really bad drivers. You know, erratic merging or

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<v Speaker 1>u turns, or casual disrespect for stop signs, speed limits

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<v Speaker 1>or pedestrian right of way, or perhaps not disrespect but ignorance.

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<v Speaker 1>Of study conducted by GMAC Insurance, nearly one in five

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<v Speaker 1>drivers weren't able to pass a written test of basic

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<v Speaker 1>driving knowledge, the sort that license applicants take. But even

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<v Speaker 1>though most people passed, there were some glaring gaps in

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<v Speaker 1>critical areas. Of those tested, for example, couldn't name the

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<v Speaker 1>correct thing to do when approaching a yellow traffic light,

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<v Speaker 1>and only one in four knew how to calculate the

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<v Speaker 1>safe distance for following a vehicle. And see the article

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<v Speaker 1>version of this story at how stuff works dot com

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<v Speaker 1>if you want to quiz yourself or acquiring experienced motorists

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<v Speaker 1>to regularly demonstrate their competence isn't something that's ever been

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<v Speaker 1>conducted on a widespread basis in the US, where some

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<v Speaker 1>states didn't even require novice drivers to pass a road

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<v Speaker 1>test until the nineteen fifties. Only one state, Illinois, has

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<v Speaker 1>a law mandating road skills tests for licensed renewals, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's only for motorists who have reached age seventy five.

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<v Speaker 1>New Hampshire once had a similar age related testing requirement,

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<v Speaker 1>but repealed it. In Pennsylvania randomly selects a small sample

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<v Speaker 1>of the states forty five and older drivers and requires

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<v Speaker 1>them to undergo additional medical and vision exams. Based on

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<v Speaker 1>those results, they might have to take a driving test

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<v Speaker 1>as well. Additionally, a handful of other states Iowa, Missouri, Michigan,

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<v Speaker 1>and California, allow officials to selectively require road tests for

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<v Speaker 1>license holders whom they have reason to believe might be unsafe.

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<v Speaker 1>We spoke via email with Andrea Henry, director of Strategic

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<v Speaker 1>Communications and Policy for the Iowa Department of Transportation. She

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<v Speaker 1>explained that in her state, quote drivers with valid licenses

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<v Speaker 1>maybe to demonstrate their driving ability prior to renewal due

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<v Speaker 1>to changes in their health. This includes physical and mobility conditions,

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<v Speaker 1>as well as produced vision and cognitive issues. While data

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<v Speaker 1>on how many retests are conducted wasn't available, most of

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<v Speaker 1>those drivers end up getting renewals anyway, though many have

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<v Speaker 1>restricted privileges such as a lower personal speed limit or

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<v Speaker 1>daytime driving. Only one obvious problem with regularly retesting experience drivers,

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<v Speaker 1>who numbered around two hundred and ten million in two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand nine, the most recent year for which Federal Highway

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<v Speaker 1>Administration data was available, is that they'd have to get

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<v Speaker 1>in line with all of those first time applicants. That

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<v Speaker 1>would create even longer lines of testing stations that already

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<v Speaker 1>have their hands full coping with nervous adolescents struggling to

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<v Speaker 1>perform complex maneuvers like the dreaded reverse two point turnabout

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<v Speaker 1>without hitting those little yellow cones. A lot of those

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<v Speaker 1>youthful license applicants end up coming back for retests themselves.

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<v Speaker 1>As of twenty eleven, in California, for example, forty two

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<v Speaker 1>point seven percent of applicants flunked the knowledge test a

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<v Speaker 1>bombed out on the skills test. The worst knowledge test

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<v Speaker 1>performance was in Missouri, with a sixty one point four

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<v Speaker 1>percent failure rate, while mains would be motorists did the

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<v Speaker 1>worst in driving skills with not making the grade. In

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<v Speaker 1>the US generally has driving tests that are a lot

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<v Speaker 1>easier than the ones used by the rest of the world.

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<v Speaker 1>In the Canadian province of British Columbia, for example, would

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<v Speaker 1>be drivers have to undergo forty five minutes of testing

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<v Speaker 1>on several different types of road, and also must verbally

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<v Speaker 1>describe what specific road hazards are immediately beside their vehicles,

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<v Speaker 1>one block ahead and also behind them to test their awareness.

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<v Speaker 1>There isn't a lot of evidence that additional testing over

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<v Speaker 1>the years necessarily would improve safety on the roads, As

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<v Speaker 1>the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety explains, studies have yielded

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<v Speaker 1>conflicting results on the question of whether age restrictions reduced

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<v Speaker 1>the rate of crashes. In Illinois, they did, but in

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<v Speaker 1>New Hampshire they didn't. The rate of injury causing crashes

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<v Speaker 1>per one hundred million miles driven actually is highest among

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<v Speaker 1>teenage drivers, and then decrease and levels out for decades

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<v Speaker 1>before starting to rise again slightly among people in their

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<v Speaker 1>seventies and eighties. That's not the pattern that you would

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<v Speaker 1>see if many people saw their driving skills or knowledge

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<v Speaker 1>deteriorate significantly in middle age. We also spoke by email

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<v Speaker 1>with Jake Nelson and Triple As, Director of Traffic Safety

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<v Speaker 1>Advocacy and research, he said. Retesting where if you fail

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<v Speaker 1>the test, you lose the license, has been shown to

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<v Speaker 1>have zero safety impact on the drivers involved, and it

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<v Speaker 1>has been shown to reduce mobility by way of drivers

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<v Speaker 1>voluntarily giving up their licenses due to fear of getting

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<v Speaker 1>them taken away rather than any legitimate concerns about their driving.

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<v Speaker 1>There's no justification through data and research for testing or

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<v Speaker 1>screening at a certain age one. Gary Biller, president of

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<v Speaker 1>the National Motorists Association, which is a nationwide advocacy group,

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<v Speaker 1>is similarly skeptical about the value of retesting experienced drivers,

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<v Speaker 1>he said via email. Safety statistics consistently show that the

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<v Speaker 1>accident rates of drivers seventy years of age and older

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<v Speaker 1>are not much different than those in the thirty five

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<v Speaker 1>to six nine year age group. By contrast, drivers younger

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<v Speaker 1>than thirty five are at the highest risk of accident.

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<v Speaker 1>That indicates a couple of things. One is that experience

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<v Speaker 1>behind the wheel is one of the most important factors

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<v Speaker 1>for safe driving. Another is its state requirements for the

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<v Speaker 1>renewal of driver's licenses are reasonable. Those requirements vary state

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<v Speaker 1>by state, but generally include more frequent re licensing and

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<v Speaker 1>vision tests. Once driver reaches sixty, seventy or seventy five

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<v Speaker 1>years of age. But Billard does think there could be

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<v Speaker 1>value in allowing officials the option of re examining certain

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<v Speaker 1>potentially problematic drivers. He said there should be an objective

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<v Speaker 1>process through which the licensing agency could be petitioned to

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<v Speaker 1>do an evaluation of a given license holder based on

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<v Speaker 1>firsthand knowledge of family members, a law enforcement agency, or

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<v Speaker 1>the courts. In fairness, there should also be an appeal

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<v Speaker 1>process for the person who is in jeopardy of losing

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<v Speaker 1>his or her license or having it restricted. That approach

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<v Speaker 1>might offer some protection against the most clearly impaired potentially

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<v Speaker 1>dangerous drivers out there, but as for the driver who

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<v Speaker 1>violate the rules because they think they can get away

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<v Speaker 1>with it, you're probably just going to have to continue

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<v Speaker 1>to be wary of them. Today's episode written by Patrick

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<v Speaker 1>Jake Tiger and produced by Tyler Clang for iHeart Radios

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<v Speaker 1>How Stuff Works from one on this and lots of

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<v Speaker 1>other topics that will absolutely let you merge if you're

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<v Speaker 1>using your turn signal, visit our home planet how to

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<v Speaker 1>works dot com, and for more podcasts from my Heart Radio,

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