Massachusetts State Senator Brian A. Joyce is pushing for a bill that would require testing every five years for drivers older than 85.

Representative Joseph F. Wagner, House chairman of the committee, said the Legislature would pursue a comprehensive bill, but it should consider drivers' functional and cognitive ability, not just age.

Safe Roads Now, a coalition of 15 groups that includes AAA Southern New England and AARP Massachusetts, is urging Massachusetts lawmakers to make a variety of other changes in driver licensing that would include: instituting in-person driver license renewals throughout a driver's lifespan; giving drivers a new visual screening test used in California; introducing a three-tiered system in which drivers would need to take additional tests if they fail initial tests; and flagging motorists who have a certain number of accidents over a specified time period and requiring them to take an in-person exam.

Read more in the 30 June 2009 article in the Boston Globe.