It’s always a difficult decision trying to figure out the right time when the driver’s license of an elderly person should be revoked. That’s because a driver’s license represents a degree of freedom that would have to be surrendered, and most elderly individuals won’t quickly capitulate to demands to give up that freedom. Plus, it’s tough to set an age requirement for driver’s license revocation because driving ability differs greatly among senior citizens.
But it’s probably agreeable to almost everyone that elderly drivers should turn in their licenses if they strike and kill a child – and don’t even realize it.
Such was the case in a tragic auto-pedestrian accident which occurred earlier this month in McHenry County. Back on September 8 at around 9pm, a six-year old boy and his father were walking across Franklinville Road near the intersection of Kunde Road, which is about a mile north of Highway 176 and four miles southwest of Woodstock. An 83-year old woman from Woodstock was driving her 2001 Chevrolet Malibu in the rain when she struck the boy. But she continued on, apparently not realizing that she had run over the six-year old, who was later pronounced dead at a Woodstock hospital. It was only after a body shop responded to a police news release about the fatal accident that authorities figured out the identity of the hit-and-run driver. The woman turned herself in to authorities on Thursday. According to authorities, she claimed that she thought she had hit a branch or some other large object.
Right now, the 83-year old Woodstock woman only faces charges of leaving the scene of an accident. But the boy’s family could choose to file a wrongful death lawsuit against her on behalf of their son. The suit could allow them to collect reimbursement for hospital and burial expenses as well as damages for mental anguish.