Priorities? Food truck legislation or regulating elderly drivers...

               There is so much public clamor for food truck legislation here in Buffalo, yet I feel that there is something that is far more pressing for the safety of the public and deserves some outcry as well… Shouldn’t there be retesting the Elderly drivers to retain their licenses.  For some reason there has been a rash of vehicles being driven into buildings lately in Western New York.  On Twitter, I see constant posts out of Buffalo about signing petitions for food truck legislation, and boycott “Brick and Mortar” restaurants that are opposed to food trucks. I also see jokes about elderly people hitting buildings… but in all reality, it is no laughing matter. Why is there no public outcry for anything to seriously be done about this elderly driver problem?

                I am not an expert on the whole dispute with the food trucks here in Buffalo. As far as I am concerned, if I like the food being served I will go and get it… that goes for both restaurants and food trucks. From what I take from the talk I see around town is that the Food Trucks want the ability to go mobile, versus having a fixed location. They have a difficult time getting permits due to the lack of legislation in regards to food trucks. “Brick and Mortar” restaurants are giving the trucks a huge problem because they feel the heat from the food trucks taking customers away from them; therefore they do not want the trucks within so many feet from their businesses. I do not feel that they should be able to park directly in front of a business, but should have the ability to roam around to different locations… after all, it is a truck.  

The food truck dispute has gone into the mainstream eye here locally, even a well-known local land developer/political figure/jackass chimed in on the topic. He was quoted saying that “We have to stop the trucks now. The restaurants downtown are fed up with this”… I do not agree with this statement at all. Everyone has a right to have an opportunity own a business. If the “brick and mortar” restaurants feel threatened by food trucks, take a look in the mirror and gauge the quality of the food you are serving… if you have an appetizing, quality product, people will come no matter what competition is out there. Personally, I could care less if these trucks move or not, they just need to exist. If I like the food served at a food truck and want it… I am going to go get it, just I like do with food from the “Brick and Mortar” establishments. There was actually a petition with nearly 4000 signatures submitted to the Buffalo Common Council supporting food truck legislation… I was not one of the signatures even though I do support them to a degree. I understand there is a degree of a controversy here, but let’s be serious… is this really a pressing matter in the grand scheme of things? 

To the owners of the food trucks, the issues with the city are priority number one.  In my opinion, the safety of the public takes precedence and should always be addressed first and foremost. There has been a sudden increase in accidents where vehicles have struck buildings here in Western New York. Several of these accidents elderly drivers… there are no regulations over elderly drivers. Should there be? I believe that there should be, not only to protect the drivers, but the innocent people that could potentially become victims with these dangerous drivers behind the wheel of vehicles. Where is the public support around this topic which involved their safety like the support backing food trucks?

According to a post on WIVB.com (http://www.wivb.com/generic/news/vehicles-crash-into-buildings) I am tallying 14 accidents where vehicles have crashed into buildings from 8/26/2011 – 10/6/2011. That is a fairly high volume of this type of incident. I’ve gone through the articles to find the ages of the drivers in the 14 accidents. Here are the ages of the drivers involved in the accidents: Unknown, 50, 63, 74, 74, 73, 59, 61, estimated at early 70’s, reportedly over 70, 49, 78, 19 and 75. There is something striking about those ages… many of them are elderly, 50% to be exact… 7 of 14 were reportedly over the age of 70. Thankfully/unfortunately only one of these incidents actually resulted in fatalities.  Two people tragically lost their life in that accident… In my opinion, it is two too many deaths.

There has to be some way to regulate elderly drivers, and possibly re-test them at some point for them to renew/keep their licenses. Here is an example that I personally witnessed of an elderly driver that had no business behind the wheel of a vehicle. Over the summer I was coming home from the beach, while driving home on a four lane highway, two lanes going each way. There was a vehicle basically driving in the middle of the two lanes, swerving from side to side across the lanes. At first I had thought that it was some kid driving home hammered from drinking early at the beach. But, upon finally having an opportunity to pass this car, I see that it was some man in his late 70’s or early 80’s behind the wheel of the recklessly driving car. Honestly, I have seen people that were blackout drunk with more control over vehicles than this elderly driver had over his car. 

 I know I know… I am suggesting that these people potentially can lose their right to drive if there were laws to re-test the elderly. What about my right to feel safe in OR out of a building (You cannot even feel safe indoors anymore with these)? You had to pass a driving exam to gain the privilege to drive… Why not pass a test to keep the privilege to drive? You want controversy? How about this, why don’t we throw HIPAA Laws aside and have doctors report to the DMV when a person should be no longer allowed to drive when medical conditions/deterioration of faculties hinders a person’s ability to drive safely? Here is another thought… potential job creation. If you remove some of the incompetent elderly drivers from the road, they will need some form of transportation. Think of the business opportunities that could be had creating transportation services for the elderly. 

 I am not saying this to be discriminatory against the elderly, I am saying this because I am a realist… there comes a certain point in your life where you can no longer do the things you once did. I understand all of these recent accidents did not involve elderly drivers… But 50% did, and that is a large percentage, a large enough percentage to show that there is a problem. We need to get the public to realize there is an issue and bring the concerns to our elected politicians. The public should be demanding laws to regulate elderly drivers. We need this for the safety of the elderly drivers, ourselves, parents, friends, spouses, siblings, our children… any of our loved ones.