Mother of man hit by SUV in crosswalk calls for N.S. to require driving tests for seniors

The mother of a man who was hit by a car at a marked crosswalk in Halifax is calling for mandatory driving tests for older drivers. 

Sarah March's 29-year-old son, Damien Tomsett, was walking east on a Gottingen Street crosswalk at Buddy Daye Street around noon on March 21 when he was hit by an SUV driven by an 89-year-old man. 

Tomsett uses cochlear implants for a hearing impairment and also has limited peripheral vision.

"He didn't see me and he drove over another 30-40 feet before other pedestrians jumped in front of him, stopping him. So they could pull me out from under the SUV," Tomsett said.

"I got multiple brain bleeds and multiple skull fractures and poor short-term memory and half of my face is paralyzed."

The driver of the car was issued a summary offence ticket for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

Five Canadian provinces — Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Alberta, Ontario and B.C. — currently require elderly drivers to regularly undergo testing to keep their licence, however B.C. paused that requirement at the beginning of the pandemic and has not yet reinstated it.

The remaining provinces, including Nova Scotia, do not have any similar requirement.

Tomsett was taken to hospital. His mother, Sarah March, said staff at the QEII Hospital notified her about five hours after he arrived.

"It was earth shattering for me. This is one of my fears: having a hearing impaired and visually impaired child, you constantly worry that they're going to be hit by a car," March said.

Tomsett said when he woke up, he had no idea where he was or what had happened. All he remembers, he said, is that he was in a lot of pain.

Doctors told Tomsett to use a walker to avoid falling and making his injuries worse. While he recovers at his mother's home in Dartmouth, N.S., both he and his mother say the province must consider mandatory driving tests for aging drivers.

"I think probably at about my age — and I'm 60 — somewhere in there they should start maybe every five years, checking for vision, hearing, reaction time," March said.

"Just making sure that those skills are still there. So many things can make an impact on your ability to drive —medications that you may be taking."

No age-based driving tests in N.S.

Tomsett this accident should prompt the province to rethink the law.

"You know, once you're still causing issues, that's when you should start getting tested. It's not so much to say you can't drive, it's just to make sure it's safe," Tomsett said.

When asked on Monday, Minister of Public Works Kim Masland didn't commit to revisiting the law.

Advocate says tests would be ageism

"There are many things that you know can create distracted driving, whether it's impairment or phone usage," Masland said.

"If we can look at something going forward we can, but we have to make sure that our policies are not discriminatory."

Bill VanGorder, the senior Nova Scotia spokesperson for CARP, the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, says the question of whether to test seniors for driving skills comes up often. He calls it ageism.

"It does feel like ageism when it's only based on age, that people are talking about setting some kind of limits," he said.

VanGorder said there are drivers in their 30s, 40s and 50s who may pose more danger on the roads than drivers in their 70s and 80s. He says freedom for older Nova Scotians to drive themselves to a doctor's appointment or a store is fundamental to their quality of life.

"You take away that freedom from an older Canadian and you're taking away half their life."