Elderly Drivers: “Hey, Should You Be Driving?” by Quill

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What is the writer’s purpose?
- To convince policymakers that elderly drivers are more prone to causing accidents compared to the rest of the population and that implementing a policy that will be more strict on elderly drivers will help a great deal in improving road safety in Jamaica.
State the writer’s stance and two logical claims that he makes in support of it
- That elderly person should be banned from driving, because
  - They are more prone to cause anxiety-related accidents compared to the average drivers as noted by one of the professors who participated in the study reported in the Journal of Sports and Exercise Psychology. The professor says, “The likelihood of elderly drivers becoming involved in anxiety-related accidents is higher than that for the average population…” (Quill, 2011, p.2) because they experience slowing down of their information-processing system associated with aging as supported by many types of research. “…as we get older, there’s slowing down in the information-processing system” (Quill, 2011, p.2). The slowing down of the information-processing system is a risk factor for impairment in all-human aspects including driving, “…because their systems are not fine-tuned as those of younger people” (Quill, 2011, p.1). When people grow old their visual and hearing acuity weakens and their reflexes get slower.
  - Many elderly people are constantly on medication of different kinds, which usually produce adverse effects that may lead to impairment of judgment.
According to the writer, “There is clear and present danger in this situation for driving at a snail’s pace can be as perilous as hurtling down a hill.” Analyze this argument (be sure that you identify the type of argument as well as the conclusion and the support) stating clearly whether you consider it to be sound or not.
This argument is deductive and represents the perspectives of drivers, who are unfortunate to share the same path with an elderly woman driver. The danger that the elderly driver poses to other drivers can be equated with that of hurtling down a hill, because a very slow-moving car is more or less like a barrier to a fast-moving vehicle, and trying to dodge it, at high speed, often culminates in an accident involving the fast car. Also in another perspective, where the slow-moving vehicle may be hidden by a hill and when reaching the top the fast-moving driver gets an abrupt site of the slow car when it is too late to brake thereby crashing into it. Thus, I consider this argument to be sound.
Assess the credibility of the writer.
- His style of writing is very professional because undoubtedly, he knows how to present his argument. He comprehensively demonstrates why elder drivers must be banned from the roads of Jamaica, without provoking the elderly population.
- He is a columnist and has a lot of experience in writing acquired from writing a certain Jamaican newspaper.
- He has a lot of experienced because he is advanced in years.
On what type of proof does the writer rely most on on – ethos, pathos, or logos? Justify your answer by citing from the text.
On logos, because he uses logos to prove his stand-in eight of a total of twelve paragraphs.
- The writer, while referring to some television incident in which an elderly man was involved, he writes:”…, the lens zoomed in to reveal that he was miles from the mark. But even before that he was drifting over the white line” (Quill, 2011, p.1). This scenario indicates to the reader that the elderly man had problems with coordination, which an average driver does not exhibit.
- In the second paragraph, he generalized the viewers’ reasoning to agree that the person on the TV had no use being a driver.
- In paragraph five, he reasons that the scenario of the elderly woman in their neighborhood poses a high risk of serious accident comparable to that of hurtling down a hill.
- The writer in paragraph six poses a rhetorical question, which inspires a logical answer.
- In the seventh paragraph, he uses reason to argue that it is the duty of the public health and traffic authorities to sustain protection of the public from clumsy elderly drivers.
- He also uses reason in paragraph eight to prove that the elder drivers are prone to causing serious accidents. He cites “…slowing down in the information-processing system” (Quill, 2011, p.1) as the reason for the increased likelihood of elderly drivers getting involved in accidents as opposed to an average driver.
- In paragraph nine, the writer expresses his reason for the stand he takes concerning road safety. He calls for the implementation of mandatory logics in driving tests for elderly drivers to establish their driving competence.
What is a claim of value?
- This is an argument that has supporting facts. For example, the claim that the likelihood of elderly drivers to cause accidents is higher compared to the average population is supported by the evidence from research that indicates the aging process produces a slow-down in the information-processing system, which results in impaired coordination of the elderly.