Patrol the streets or retest those who drive on them

THE TONAWANDAS - Yet again, another elderly driver has given the older drivers a bad reputation on the roads. The recent accident, which occurred on the Grand Island stretch of the thruway has allowed us to once again revisit this problem. Maybe this time, we need to start pointing the finger at someone else.

Where was the security on the road? Where were one of the three different levels of law enforcement while a vehicle was driving in the wrong direction for almost eight miles?

No city, county or state law enforcement was anywhere near that stretch for eight miles? Clearly we have a “fault” somewhere. Whether that be under staffing of police patrol or lack of attention has yet to be determined.

However, as soon as a motorist enters the City or Town of Tonawanda - be it on River Road in the City of Tonawanda or Sheridan Drive in the Town of Tonawanda - they immediately become alert and aware of police presence. The same feeling hits motorists when they enter North Tonawanda. The reason being that law enforcement is doing their job in those areas.

Patrol is present, almost always.

So where were the Buffalo and Grand Island police officers when a man decided to drive his car over the bridge the wrong way?

Political officials won’t currently take a stand on blaming elderly drivers for these types of problems and decide one way or another if they think elderly drivers should be retested due to potential discrimination law suits. That’s fine.

However, who should the families of the three men who lost their lives as a result of this choose to blame? If elderly drivers aren’t to blame, should we blame law enforcement?

If the Tonawanda Police Departments can figure out how to keep control in their cities and town - including patrolling the streets, how come other municipalities, county and state law enforcement can’t gain the same control?

Accidents do happen, but rules are made to be enforced - so enforce them. How many times should we (the public) let this slide? It’s happening too often. Someone needs to put a stop to it and if that means retesting elderly drivers, than that’s a decision that needs to be made regardless of whether it hurts someone’s feelings.

Those who hold a position in politics or law enforcement have been chosen to make these changes happen. So it’s about time someone does something about it.