Editor:
Further to your story four years ago, “Simons presses for review of DriveABLE” (Coast Reporter, Jan. 10, 2014), the provincial government, as of March 1, 2018, will cancel its DriveABLE assessment, a program that wrongfully discriminated against non-computer-savvy senior drivers by assessing cognitive driving abilities with touch-screen testing. Senior drivers over the age of 80 and those who may be deemed a public risk by a doctor will now be tested by a driver-inspector in the senior’s own vehicle.
Along the Sunshine Coast, many seniors depend on the automobile. These are reasonable people who drive when they have to and usually avoid night driving.
It is wonderful that ICBC has finally come to its senses. These changes are due in part to our local MLA. Nicholas Simons began his advocacy on this issue by first bringing it to the attention of the B.C. Legislature on May 11, 2011. Simons made it clear to the minister responsible, “This program has victimized seniors across this province for too long. This has caused good drivers to be taken off the road.” Since then he rose in the House many times to point out the unfairness of the program to his senior constituents, during question period, budget and estimate debates: March 14, 2013, July 24, 2013, Feb. 27, 2014, March 3, 2014. He alone in the legislature fought for senior driving rights and his persistence over the years obviously did not go unheard.
I raise this point not because of partisan grounds but because in today’s cynical view of politicians, it’s great to know that a voice can make a difference.
Guy Gentner, Powell River
