Picture this: It’s Friday, you’re on your way home or on your way to a friend’s house for the weekend, driving along in your luxury budget-mobile. As you approach the interstate on-ramp, you perceive an old model Buick Regal preparing to merge into heavy traffic at the steady pace of about 40 m.p.h.

Just as you are about to become a permanent fixture on their rear bumper, you notice a small hump of silver hair, barely discernable over the driver’s seat, and two frail, grizzled hands on the wheel. Do you:

A.) Hit the brakes and patiently wait until you are both safely in the slow lane before entering the fast lane to go around them?

B.) Lay on the horn and shriek a stream of curses that could frazzle the nerves of the dead? or

C.) Hit the gas and whizz over the white line into the fast lane, regardless of life or limb?

The issue of elderly drivers has been a very tenuous one, especially for those people who spend a great deal of time on the road. Whether our senior counterparts should be restricted legally in their driving ability is a question to which a federal study recently answered “no.”

The conclusion was that there is no justification to restrict driving solely on the basis of age. Nevertheless, it’s still a fact that elderly drivers do pose a problem on the roads. The question is whose problem is it?

Not too long ago I had the pleasure of getting my license renewed, and as I was waiting in line at this den of hospitality, I noticed before me what appeared to be a very old woman who had come with her daughter to do exactly what I was doing. As objectively as possible, I will try to tell you that this woman’s physical constitution was no where what it should be for someone who is about to get behind the wheel of a car.

She had difficulty walking along the counter and was even supported by her daughter. The desk clerk had to repeat the directions for the eye test several times, and the woman still appeared confused. After guiding the woman through every stage of the application, the clerk handed her what I understood to be a valid driver’s license. This frightened me.

I can’t say in this case if there were any restrictions on the license or not. I can say, on a note even closer to home, my grandfather’s license has no restrictions other than for his eye glasses. I love this man, but the fact remains that he simply cannot and should not drive.

My authority in saying so comes from the many trips my sister and I have spent cowering in the back seat with Gramps at the wheel and from the ever-growing tally of accidents he’s racking up—the most recent one being rather severe. Nonetheless, he still has his license.

Yet, the fact remains that elderly drivers cause fewer accidents than teenagers, and a majority of the accidents they are involved in are caused by people trying to get around them. So what about restrictions?

It seems to me that it’s in keeping with the American dream that after one works all of his or her life to get established, he or she should be allowed the freedom to travel and enjoy life after retirement.

But there comes a point where we can no longer patronize our elderly loved ones because we’re afraid to tell them that their driving skills are not what they should be. This doesn’t mean they should not be allowed to drive—only that certain restrictions be made, such as daytime only, neighborhood only or only with another licensed driver in the car, similar to what they require for new drivers.

As for the rest of us, we need to decide if the elderly drivers we see on the roads are really life-endangering or maybe just a minor annoyance that calls for a little extra patience. Hopefully, we’ll all be around to see this issue from their perspective one day.