The move comes on the back of several fatal accidents in metropolitan Guadalajara involving senior citizens. In one of the accidents, in Colonia Providencia, a young child died.
Saúl Alveano Aguerrebere, Setran’s director of road safety, cited “scientific evidence” that a person’s cognitive abilities start to decline after the age of 75, potentially influencing their ability to drive in a safe manner.
Alveano did not specify on whether elderly adults would need to retake the driving test (a fairly simple procedure in Jalisco), or just undergo a cognitive exam.
The proposal would not require approval by the Jalisco state legislature and is expected to be included in the updated mobility law regulations to be published no later than July.
Many U.S. states and Canadian provinces have age-based mandatory assessment programs for older drivers. However, there is currently no universally accepted test or scale for determining driving fitness, and many healthcare professionals feel unsure about making recommendations to stop driving.
Former Jalisco Health Secretary Alfonso Petersen Farah said that while some people may find the measure “discriminatory,” he fully agrees with the proposal. “We cannot help but recognize that with age we start to lose certain faculties, typically our reflexes that limit the ability to respond to particularly urgent situations.”