There is no easy way to test an elderly motorist. No single marker - the tremors of Parkinson’s, the memory loss of Alzheimer’s, or the fact that someone turned 85 - makes for an impaired driver. And while legislators on Beacon Hill have responded to several high-profile accidents involving older drivers by drafting bills, no single test can determine who should give up the keys.

Across the nation, an increasing number of hospitals are offering comprehensive driving assessment programs for the elderly. They provide the kind of dispassionate medical judgment about driving ability that can temper the emotion in the inevitably raw family debates about when elderly drivers should stop.

Read more in the 1 July 2009 Boston Globe article: Tested for the Road.