But it’s not good enough.
For all of the appropriate attention paid to tragic accidents involving young people, the law doesn’t address another serious problem — bad and dangerous driving by people over the age of 55.
Beginning Sept. 30, anyone 18, 19, or 20 years old will be required to take a driver’s education course consisting of 24 hours of classroom training and eight hours of behind-the-wheel instruction with a certified trainer. Applicants will also need to complete 50 hours of driving, 10 of which must be at night, with a licensed driver who will supervise the instruction and certify, via a notarized affidavit, that the young driver has successfully completed the training.
Prior to the change, drivers 18 and older could be exempt from some of the training.
The new law makes sense since more than 195,000 youth-related crashes have occurred since the start of 2025, according to the Ohio Traffic Safety Office. Montgomery (8,786), Warren (4,928), and Greene (2,875) counties all show large numbers of crashes involving youth.
Now, it’s time for lawmakers to address mature drivers.
Since January, there have been more than 219,000 crashes in Ohio in which one of the drivers was 55 or older. A study from 2018 reported that more than one in five fatal car crashes in the state involved at least one driver 65 and older, the 11th highest in the country.
Ohio doesn’t have any license renewal requirements specifically for older drivers. With the ability to renew a license online, older drivers can now bypass the vision test that’s required when renewing in person. That poses a danger since nearly 100,000 Ohioans over the age of 50 suffer from macular degeneration, an eye disease that impacts vision, according to Prevent Blindness Ohio. Millions more suffer from eye issues associated with other conditions.
Multiple states prohibit drivers over a certain age, generally 69 or 70, from renewing their license online. Instead, they must do so in person and take a vision test. Arkansas, Idaho, and California are among the states with those restrictions.
In Illinois, drivers 87 years old and older have to take an annual driver’s test, and drivers 79 to 86 who are renewing their licenses must take a vision test.
Ohio can borrow from those examples and create a program that respects older adults while keeping them and others safe.
How about this?
Drivers age 69 and over can’t renew their license online and must appear in person for a vision test. Anyone 75 and over renewing their license must pass a driving test. Anyone over 80 must take a test every two years, and over 85, yearly.
For those who will howl about age discrimination, forget it. Driving isn’t a right. It’s a privilege, which is why lawmakers can place restrictions on young drivers.
It’ll be politically difficult to pass anything that makes getting a license harder since the 65-plus age group votes more than any other. But this is an issue that will eventually need to be addressed. By 2024, more than 2.9 million Ohioans will be 60 and older, according to state data. The 85 and older population is projected to increase by 51%, to nearly 389,000 from the current 257,540.
The state has made two recent changes in the name of driver safety. Ohio’s distracted driving law has resulted in a decrease in the number of crashes (8%), injuries (3%), and fatalities (4%) since the law was passed in 2023.
The new youth driving mandates should help, too.
The state can make the roads even safer by putting in place new rules for older drivers. The data show that’s a reasonable thing to do.
Ray Marcano’s columns appear on these pages each Sunday. He can be reached at raymarcanoddn@gmail.com.
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