Luke Judge

Greetings of “Happy St. Patrick’s Day!” will be heard thousands of times today throughout Metro Moncton as residents, no matter what their heritage, celebrate everything Irish. Indeed Moncton’s Irish descendants have been celebrating St. Patrick’s Day since 1985 with activities at various locations, a celebration that has come to be known as Irishfest. The party actually began days ago with the traditional raising of the Irish flag at Moncton City Hall. The festivities continued with a kids event including face-painting, Irish dance and entertainment and an Irish breakfast followed by a traditional kitchen party. For today a luncheon and mass will be held at St. Bernard’s Church starting at noon. And so it seems fitting to add this traditional Irish blessing that is considered the most famous blessing of all:

“May the road rise to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back,

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon your fields,

And until we meet again,

In the palm of his hand.”

A recent report published in the Canadian Medical Journal is raising eyebrows and has jump-started a National discussion about whether there should be provisions in place for accommodating people who should stop driving, what is being referred to as ‘driving retirement.’ The article quotes Dr. Noni MacDonald, Section Editor of the Journal, “Just as planning for job retirement is the social norm, we should be planning for driving retirement by creating programs to help seniors drive safely as long as possible and when they can’t, to help them get around.”

Metro residents have some thoughts of their own on this topic, Donna says, “I don’t think a retirement plan but maybe testing, it is hard for us as family members to face the fact that our loved ones are not as “capable” as they used to be.”

Marcel concurs, “I agree with Donna. I think that at a designated age one must undergo a mandatory eye and medical check before a license is renewed. I have personally known people from my past that were legally blind and had their licence renewed without question and became quite hazardous behind the wheel, becoming a threat to themselves and others. If you don’t pass a medical requirement to be safe upon the roads then you must comply and relinquish your right to drive.”

Angelina joins in commenting, “Granted there are people of every age that should not be driving. However the average person aged 65 or over is certainly competent enough to drive.”

Meanwhile EurekAlert, an online, global news service that provides a central place through which universities, medical centres, journals, government agencies, corporations and other organizations engaged in research can bring their news to the media, published an article that states, “Municipalities, health care authorities, community groups, charities and all levels of government can develop solutions for driving retirees. These can include tax or financial incentives for car pooling, a reverse graduated license, urban planning for seniors’ needs and subsidized shuttle services to help seniors run errands and get back home safely.”

So the question becomes, “Do Metro Monctonians actually believe this to be a major issue in their future?”

Ed was fuelling up at a local gas bar before heading out for a day of appointments and he offered an interesting perspective saying, “When I was in my 20s and thought I knew everything and felt immortal I believed no one over the age of 60 should even be driving. Or at the very least, they should be tested every year before they were permitted to get behind the wheel. Whenever I pulled up to a vehicle driven by an older person I would think, ‘shouldn’t they be walking more’, or ‘looking after their grandkids?’ That type of thing.” After pausing deliberately he continued to say, “Now that 60 is getting closer than 30, I’ve kind of changed my thinking and have taken an opposite view. People under 20 shouldn’t permitted to drive on their own, and everyone in their 20s should be walking more.”

Renee has a suggestion she thinks would help weed out drivers that should not be driving, “One solution I agree with is having everyone 70 and getting road-tested every two years.” And Regis agrees there should more services available to help with mobility when the time comes, he disagrees with too many rule changes, “Stop already with the regulations. If you are worried about driving, just don’t drive.”

* Terry Parker’s column appears daily. Terry can be heard weekdays co-hosting the Morning Show on CKO 107.3FM with Naomi Striemer from 7-10 a.m. Want to contribute to Terry Parker’s People with your questions and comments? Contact Terry at 859-2356 or terryp62@gmail.com.

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