Are doctors all-powerful?

In a CMAJ editorial, Redelmeier and Stanbrook advocate restricted drivers’ licences for seniors starting at an arbitrary age, and propose that seniors could then approach their doctors for assessment — in order to regain the right to drive on fast highways.1 Really? What makes physicians think that they can determine who is a good driver? Why is it our business anyway? Is it our business to determine who is a good parent, or a safe drunk?

Of course we 80-year-old drivers should be screened — but by the same government that issues our licences. There are brilliant “flight simulators” and “driving simulators,” which are capable of quickly and accurately testing night vision, reaction time and visual fields. Just pass a law, put us in the simulator for 20 minutes, and read out the results. Cheap, no staff needed — and no doctors!

By the way, taking drivers off the road who are involved in collisions is not “too late to prevent injuries.” It is justice! Why take away a person’s freedom who has done nothing wrong? Isn’t that called “profiling”?