FORT MYERS, Fla. - An 81-year-old woman preparing to take a test drive at a car dealership hit her husband, a salesman, a car and a tree before running into a wall. "She must have panicked," said Joe Sica, sales manager at Honda of Fort Myers.

The new Honda Accord shot backward after Dorothy Byrum got behind the wheel and apparently stepped on the wrong pedal Wednesday.

The open car door hit her 88-year-old husband, Robert, and the salesman. Then the car struck the parked car, the tree and the wall. The air bag deployed, and Byrum was not injured.

Her husband was knocked down but was in good condition the following day. The salesman was released after treatment and is expected to be out of work for about a week, Sica said.

The car was written off.
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I personally think that once you hit the age of 70 you should have to take a response test at the DMV every 6 months.

I agree. My grandma quit driving at 81 after she sideswiped a parked schoolbus. Luckily, no one was in it at the time.

You whippersnappers just wait till your an old fart. You'll be crying for your rights then!

It isn't a right to drive. Our roads should be safe.

When my mom was in her seventies I was riding with her in Kansas City late one night. We came to a (fortunately deserted!) divided highway, and she turned left in the nearest half of the roadway, not realizing it was only half of the highway. We had this conversation:

"MOM! You're on the wrong side of the road!"
"No I'm not!"
"YES YOU ARE!"
"I'm as far over as I can get!"
"But you're on the wrong side of the road!"
"You mean I'm supposed to be on that road over there?"
"THAT'S NOT ANOTHER ROAD! IT'S THE OTHER HALF OF THIS ONE!"

Oh man....that sounds like me and my husband when we travel together. And we're not even 35 yet.....

My grandmother had her license suspended at the ripe young age of 98.

Reason. Too many speeding tickets. On her 99th birthday, we received a call from the Broward county Sheriff saying they had arrested her for failure to stop for a police officer, evading a police officer, and driving while on a suspended license.
Not to mention, Speeding. (The original reason they tried to stop her.)

Her response to the question of why she was speeding? She was late to her birthday party at the senior center.

Sounds like your granmother is a real crackerjack SC. I bet she was really miffed about losing her license.

She was more p.off they impounded her car. Up until my dads death he would still laugh about it whenever someone brought it up.

She was a character.

I about crapped my pants many a time riding with my grandpa who was in his 80s.
He insisted on driving 35 miles an hour on the highway. I don't know how many times people would get pissed and honk and pass us up.
He never would use his turning lights because he said they would burn out fast.
He ran red lights all the time.
I think I ended up with more grey hair than he had!

Well for every elderly driver who shouldn`t be driving on the roads there are about 10 young drivers who shouldn`t be driving on our roads!

Was she looking for the country kitchen buffet? Seriously, whatever age you are unsafe driving is unsafe driving and you should lose your license. heck some of those old people on the rascals in the mall make me nervous.

I keep saying it over and over the family members of these elder people should really pay attention to their driving. I can't believe this one it's a shocker, never heard anything lile this before.

Some stories just speak for themselves, take a look.

ABC13

Hrmm.. maybe that salesman will think twice next time before letting an 81yr old lady drive!

No kidding, you'd think they have some kind of policy against that.

I feel bad though the story made me laugh, just picturing the whole scenerio in my head with wacky music and sound effects...I've had the giggles about it all day, I must be very tired.

Wow, I wish that older people were more like my grandma. She stopped driving at night 5 years ago and stopped all together a few months ago on her own accord. she new she was no longer capable of safely driving due to her poor reflexes and failing eyesight.

Yes it's too bad more senior citizens don't take the initiative to stop driving on there own. I can understand why they don't want to, but after awhile it just becomes irresponsible and dangerous.

I have to agree with you there....I honestly don't know which ones scare me the most. The young cocky ones that have no clue or the old careful ones who had a clue, but lost it.

A friend of mine in her early twenties came out of the tanning salon and got into her little sports car. She'd stepped on something and cut her foot, so after she started her car she slipped her shoe off and put her foot up on the steering wheel to loot at the cut. In the process she knocked the car out of gear, it hopped forward and slammed into a light post, the jolt threw her head forward into the wheel and she honked the horn with her nose.

Naturally it was a crowded parking lot in broad daylight in a small town, so there were lots of witnesses. She wasn't hurt, luckily, but her car was dented pretty badly and she was SOOOOO embarrassed!

Another good point! In my state, kids are allowed to get a DL at age 16. A couple of years ago a law was passed that children under the age of 18 were given a 6 month probation period where they could not: drive after dark, drive with a passenger (unless it was a parent or legal gaurdian) and had to keep a clean driving record. If the child received a moving violation or was involved in an accident where the child was a guilty party then said child would have to retake the driving exam 6 months later. During time which the child would have no driving privileges.
It's a great program. The only problem is that the parents of some of these kids don't care that their child is a reckless driver and allows them access to a vehicle in spite of the law.

My Mother does this. But she is a good driver otherwise. My Father, on the other hand, is pretty shaky. I was behind an old couple on the highway yesterday (65mph speed limit) who was going 45 and then ever 100 yards or so she would slam on her brakes.

Mandatory retesting ON THE ROAD every couple of years for everyone - young and old. I specify "on the road" because here in NJ, we take our test on some little 1/2 mile course where you can only go 15 mph. Its hardly a test of driving skill.

LMAO I aint laughed that hard since I joined this site. Kudo's to you for that one..omg that was a riot!!