Morning Drive

Overall, I think WRVA Radio's Jimmy Barrett is a great guy. He's very knowledgeable and does an excellent job with his morning news show. But, from my point of view, his loathing of the elderly is getting a bit tedious.
He's giddy with excitement this morning as he tells "yet another" story of an elderly driver who has run into a building. It happened "again" yesterday, when a 79-year old lady ran into the Tuckahoe YMCA. Now, admittedly, people should not be driving their cars into buildings, especially during business hours. And, I'll acknowledge that at a certain age it probably would be good to re-test elderly drivers annually.
But, Barrett would have you believe that there's some sort of bird-brain pandemic of old, confused, senile drivers. He says there's been "another" case of this. And then he goes on to say that this is the second such occurrence in recent months in Richmond. Big whoop.
Two whole cases. During that same time period, how many younger (below 65, let's say) drivers caused accidents because of being drunk, fatigued, distracted, or just pain stupid? I'm willing to bet that there have been more than two. I'm also willing to bet if you segregated statistics to show the number of accidents caused by drivers in each age group, that those caused by drivers 75 and above would not be the highest.
One reason, obviously is that a good many of those drivers are already dead. Certainly a lot of the drunks are either too dead or too brain-fried to be be driving at that age. A lot of the really poor drivers have also weeded themselves out by dying on the highways. But, even with that, I am virtually certain that elderly drivers running into buildings is way down on the list of accidents.
Barrett was also rather cruel in his attack on the poor woman because she said she didn't remember what happened. He suggested she may be suffering for "autosheimers disease." I'm sure that those who have parents and mates with Alzheimers will find that especially humorous.
But, following an accident, how many of us truly remember all the events that caused the accident? The woman could have lied and said that her foot slipped, or that a bug frightened her, or that her gas peddle stuck, but, no, she tells the truth and for that gets branded as mentally incompetent to drive.
Barrett even suggested that without benefit of a trial, her license should be revoked. Maybe he could get the KGB to just go to her home and shoot her.
This morning on the way to work, a less-than-elderly woman driver stops right in the middle of Staples Mill Road, almost causing me to rear-end her. Why? She really wanted to make a left turn but the left turn lane was filled. So this moron just stops in the road. I imagine, given the time of day, the woman was on her way to work. I think all people who drive to work should be re-tested annually. Most of them must be too stupid to drive.
That would include me. I almost merged right into a car today getting on the Interstate. I just didn't see the guy. I don't remember why I didn't see him. I didn't have a crash, but still, that wasn't because of anything I did. So, take my license, hang me by the neck until my eyes pop out of my head, or worse yet, humiliate me on the radio. I deserve it.