Oh Magoo, You’ve Done It Again!

The title of my blog today is the catch phrase of Mr. Magoo, the lovable but frustrating animated retiree voiced by actor Jim Backus. For those not familiar with the character, Mr. Magoo was a likeable older gentleman whose nearsightedness—and his unwillingness to admit his problem—led him to all sorts of crazy misunderstandings and unfortunate situations.

I was reminded of Mr. Magoo when I read the not so funny story of an 88-year-old Nebraska man who was sent out to get dinner by his wife and ended up getting lost in the process. REALLY LOST.

In fact, he ended up traveling 40 miles down the Interstate—in the WRONG DIRECTION!

The police tried waving him over. He merely smiled and waved back. Even the close calls with oncoming traffic didn’t snap him back to reality.

He drove TWICE over “stop sticks” that flattened his tires.

At least he wasn’t speeding.

This story may be an extreme example, but it is one of a thousand I has seen that make me more confident than ever that elderly drivers need to be tested more often. Many of them—like the rest of us—haven’t been tested behind the wheel of a car in FOREVER.

Things change. WE change. An athlete or a dancer or even a talk show host is not the same at 88 as they were at 28 or 58. They just aren’t. Age can be cruel, but reality can be even crueler.

All drivers need to be tested more often than they are. But elderly drivers need to be tested yearly.

It just makes sense.