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Police in Arlington say elderly driver mistakes drug-store front door for drive-through, drives into Salvation Army bell ringer
By adamg on Tue, 12/16/2014 - 3:41pm
Arlington Police report a Salvation Army bell ringer outside the Walgreens at 1425 Mass. Ave. was pinned under a car around 12:45 p.m. when the driver, an 87-year-old Arlington man, mistook its front doors and awning for a drive-thru window.
Police say the bell ringer, a 50-year-oldn Boston man, was taken to the hospital with leg injuries that are serious but not life-threatening, after a good Samaritan who happens to work at a nearby gas station rushed over with a vehicle floor jack to get the car off him.
Police say they will cite the driver for operating to endanger - and that they have filed an "immediate threat" report with the Registry of Motor Vehicles asking for a review of his right to continue to drive.
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Comments
Clearly
Bell-ringer and building both should have been decked out in reflective clothing and stayed off paved surfaces
Was he wearing a helmet?
Look, our stores were designed to be visited by cars, not bellringers.
Elderly drivers are known to
Elderly drivers are known to drive their Buicks, Cadillacs, and Chryslers into Hair Salons, Drug stores, Donut Shops, Hospital lobbys, and any other store front with a glass window with brick and morter. Could be a facebook page out there named Granny behind the wheel, run! facebook page. It gives you up to date minute by minute on which store in the USA was smashed through by someones granny.
Nope, Toyota Camry
When I get stuck behind a slow car its often a Carolla, Camry, Prius, or Subaru. These are the current vehicles for old farts (of all ages).
Picture of the Awning
http://i.imgur.com/86FDhxt.png
Can't even imagine getting to the age where I can't trust my own mind any more.
Cowardly politicians
Need to step up and put an end to this madness. 87 year olds should not be driving. Period! We need to start testing seniors every year after the age of 65 for cognitive and reactive function. Its not like they don't have the time. We shouldn't be waiting for somebody to have an accident before we think its time to take away their license.
Absolutely!
87 year olds should bicycle everywhere. In this case, the Minuteman path is right behind the store, connected by a set of stairs. If too lazy to bicycle, they can go in and interview to use The Ride and afterwards schedule their trips a day in advance.
Glad you weren't hurt in the crash, Mark!
Is the car going to be ok?
Wasn't me - hate that part of Arlington
Mass Ave is only one lane each way there with the resulting traffic congestion. I use the Walgreen's in east Arlington which has a much bigger parking lot and Mass Ave is still 4 lanes, for now. I sometimes even walk the 4 blocks from my home!
You just clearly outlined
One of the most serious problems with a society where everyone is forced to be dependent on driving or being driven.
There will always be people who cannot drive, people who shouldn't drive, people too young to drive, people too old to drive who would still be fully able to navigate their community by other means. Community design for cars means dependency and exclusion. Community design for people means independence.
Part of the problem
When people are younger, they are fine with driving everywhere. When they get older, they don't want to move to a new home within walking distance of things, yet can't drive well either.
In Europe, I see the dense village centers having homes with small yards, yet within walking distance to things. Farmland then surrounds the villages. Americans like to have more property for the kids to run around, a pool, or simply more privacy and buffer from neighbors. Got to convince people to give that up before or during their child rearing years in order to get your walkable communities.
Why?
My great grandmother drove until she was 90, then gave up her license voluntarily. Largely, I suspect she got tired of driving around all the other little old ladies.
My 68 year old Dad, who still works full time as a college professor and consults a ludicrously large number of hours a week would probably disagree that he has the time to waste on the DMV every year.
While it's clear we do need a way for families to protect older family members (and protect others from them), the blanket revocation of licenses at an arbitrary age would be unfair and punitive.
And, to be perfectly frank, there are quite a few people under the age of 65 who probably shouldn't be on the roads!
Thats great for your grandmother
But accidents like this are all too common. My grandfather was fine driving up to 80 until he wasn't. We got a call out of the blue one night from the police. He was 40 miles from home in the middle of January, in his pajamas, trying to get into his home he hadn't lived in 40 years. He couldn't figure out why the police were there.
I also know people in their late 50s and 60s who look and act like they are 100.
There should be an age where people need to get tested yearly. I don't know what that age should be, but it is somewhere before age 80 that's for sure.
Go to Florida. This is a weekly occurrence.
Yearly testing, fine. Maybe.
Though yes, there needs to be some serious study about when it should be done, because as you note, the age at which someone becomes a hazard varies wildly between individuals.
The poster I was responding to was also seemed to be suggesting a cut-off for when someone would be allowed to drive. As a whole our population is aging (heeeloooo Babyboomers!), and in general are aging better than ever before.
This is a problem which doesn't have a simple, one-size-fits-all solution.
and living in a college-dense area..
I can speak people under the age of 26 who drive like they are under the age of 26. If we are going to be punitive based on age of those so very old (over 65yo), then we should do so for those whose pre-frontal lobes, judgement centers, aren't fully formed. They are more likely to exhibit risk-taking behavior. Quite literally difficulty 'putting on the brakes'. there are a lot of teenage driving deaths in the news. and just living in a college area, I can tell you, fast, reckless and oblivious would describe it well. As a pedestrian I'm diving outta the way of college students, whether cycling, out for a run or behind the wheel or even on foot, more often than their college professors. Good reflexes in the gaming world don't necessarily translate to sound judgment and cognitive and spatial ability in the real world. I've noticed an obvious deficit in visio-spatial ability in local students especially in the last 6 or so years. and I'm not the only one.
It isn't just age
Our neighbor when we first moved in was a horrendous threat to public safety, and yet even the cops could not get him off of the road or take his license.
He nearly hit a man five years older, who bikes between MIT and Winchester even still.
There are even younger people who have uncontrolled diabetes or advanced cardiovascular impairments or worsening glaucoma who shouldn't be driving. Problem is, they don't know.
I honestly believe that people under 70 should sit a simulator test every 5 or 10 years while waiting at the RMV for their license appointment. Don't pass? Get a doctor's note and try again. Still don't pass? In-person retest to keep your license. This could be more frequent for those over 70.
This would screen out people who have deteriorating abilities, and possibly correctable conditions that they might otherwise neglect. It also gets rid of whining about age discrimination.
I also think that a doctor should have the ability to challenge a drivers license on medical grounds. That is one thing that many people with parents with dementia would love to see. Right now there is no functional method for doing this. I have friends who have tried the medical evaluation route and the RMV just ignores the requests.
It would also help if the RMV became more serious about public health and safety and less of an incompetent paper pushing wasteland.
Well most pharmacy drive-thru
Well most pharmacy drive-thru's do have a sign that says 'please ring the bell for service'! Glad and lucky that the injuries are not worse.
Damn, really? There isn't a
Damn, really? There isn't a drive-through anywhere near there... I can understand mistaking the Berman's 'drive-through' sign, but that Walgreens is nothing but a concrete wall with an entrance.
Immediate Threat
Can anyone file an immediate threat petition (?) in Massachusetts or can one come only from a police department? Is there a mechanism for someone to register a family member as "unsafe to drive"?
My grandfather drove long after he should have stopped. We knew this, but there was nothing we could do to stop him--short of stealing his car. He finally caused a serious accident that totaled two cars, and could have killed everyone involved (thankfully no one was hurt.) He was charged in criminal court with driving to endanger, and had his driver's license revoked. The only thing that kept him from being convicted was that the judge was convinced that giving an 80 year old man probation or jail time wasn't going to solve any problems and we promised that no one in his family was going to take my grandfather to the RMV to get his license reinstated!
A family member can submit a
A family member can submit a request for medical evaluation. My father has Alzheimer's and about 2 years ago he got lost for several hours, whereupon we contacted the local police department. He turned up safely on his own shortly thereafter. The police told me they were obligated to contact the RMV, which they did, and shortly after that his license was automatically revoked and they replaced it with a photo ID card.