It should be hard to renew a driver's license. Sorry, seniors

People wait in a line that stretches outside the DMV office in South Los Angeles in 2018.

Oct. 16, 2023 3 AM PT

To the editor: As a 67-year-old, I cringed reading the cluster of letters from my fellow seniors reacting to Steve Lopez’s column on the test seniors must take to renew their driver licenses. Wah, wah, wah.

I currently attend college. Modern testing has changed, and it’s a challenge to adapt. Please note the current DMV testing allows a retest.

It should be somewhat difficult to get a driver’s license. One should be familiar with common and obscure laws. Let’s remember the potential danger of a large, fast-moving car.

Age-related skill erosion is inevitable — it’s life. Perhaps it’s not that darn test that’s the problem, but the face we all see in the mirror.

Food for thought for my peers: There’s an absolutely valid reason we don’t have 80- year-olds as commercial airline pilots.

Mark Diniakos, Thousand Oaks