What these wished-for restrictions really mean is that government bureaucrats and politicians should decide who is fit to drive.
We were driving in a rural area-a sensible place for an elderly person to drive, in many ways.
What my sympathetic listeners don't see is that rather than curbing bad driving, government licensing requirements can actually encourage it.
Nor, for that matter, will many people think twice about driving anything anywhere in any road conditions once they have that holographed piece of plastic proclaiming that they can drive, even if they barely passed the minimal proficiency tests some states require.
In some European countries, passing the driving test in an automatic vehicle means your license does not extend to manual vehicles.
Rental car companies won't rent to drivers under twenty-five even if they're licensed by the government, an extra requirement they use to protect their fleet, and one that is sensible albeit somewhat arbitrary and discriminatory.
Government licensing requirements bar many people from the road unfairly, regardless of their individual circumstances, and keep people's own sense and accountability to others from creating order on the road. Government licensing restrictions on driving are not only tyrannical but also create disorder by partially nullifying our responsibility to gauge our own and others' ability with motor vehicles.
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