I am told that New York State is attempting this... Regardless of what
state it is we, and AOPA, and EAA, and the Cessna Pilots Association,
etc., need to be proactive, not reactive... What we need to do is
attack, not flinch and run around whimpering...
What I propose is that GA begins to campaign that unfit drivers cause
40,000+ deaths a year... That the first thing an illegal alien does
upon entering the country is get a drivers license... That all or most
of the 9/11 terrorists had a drivers license...
We need to DEMAND that all drivers have a federal background check to
get an initial license or at the next license renewal if the check has
not been previously performed, and a triennial medical comparable to a
3rd class flight physical to have and to keep a drivers license... We
need to insist that the medically impaired be banned from driving... We
need to demand that a DUI conviction result in loss of license for ten
years for the first offense and permanently for the second offense...
If taking an antidepressent is disabling for a Pilots certificate then
it is disabling for a drivers license...If insulin dependent diabetes,
or taking nitrates for a heart condition - you get the point... Also,
older drivers should have to have an annual physical...
The point here is tto stir up the public and put the heat to the
elected politicians... The reason these grand standing political hacks
can get away with demanding draconian measures against pilots is that
we are a minority... The majority of the public doesn't feel threatened
so they don't care if we get shafted...We have to make them care... If
the majority becomes alarmed and angry then the politicians are going
to flinch away from attacking us because the majority will be against
stiffer standards for anyone, fearing they will be next...

Look, women did not get the right to vote by sitting home and
whimpering, they took to the streets... Blacks did not get their
constitutional rights recognized by being servile and docile, they took
to the streets... Nixon did not end the Vietnam war because he wanted
to, he was facing growing public protests by students, hippies, Cassius
Clay, etc., and the majority of the public was getting restless over
the unrest... Politicians absolutely fear the public payiing attention
to what they are doing... They want the public hypnotized by reruns of
Threes Company... Anything that brings the public out of their stupor
puts the the fear of gawd into an elected politician... We need to stir
up the public...

denny