It's still a bad idea.

Not that the motivation behind it is bad. We agree with Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, that drivers with poor eyesight or reactions or mental acuity can be a danger to themselves and others when they are behind the wheel. We also agree that public safety would be served if there were an easier way to get them in for testing so that it could be determined whether they can safely operate a vehicle.

But we would take a different route to a solution than Sen. Christensen's.

His bill would allow anyone to report drivers with impairments anonymously. Under existing law, the identity of the person who makes the report to the Driver License Division is disclosed to the driver.

That can make life difficult for family members who realize that grandpa's faculties no longer allow him to drive safely. You can imagine the heated arguments and hurt feelings that can brew up.

Christensen's bill would solve that problem to some degree, although we believe that grandpa still would suspect, rightly or wrongly, that someone close to him had ratted him out.

Our concern remains that vindictive neighbors or others with an ax to grind could make malicious anonymous reports out of spite. That could cause unnecessary grief for a victim who might be a perfectly good driver.

The version of the senator's bill that he filed in the last legislative session would have deterred false reports by making them a criminal misdemeanor subject to up to 90 days in jail and $750 fine.

Nevertheless, barring a paper trail of disputes between the parties, it might be difficult to prove that a person had filed a false report maliciously.

We wonder if it might be better to subject all drivers above a certain age, say 70, to testing. Advocates for the elderly will object to any age-based standard, but it is a fact of life that as people age, the senses and reactions erode. Besides, Utah already subjects young, inexperienced drivers to age-based restrictions.

We realize that age-based testing could be prohibitively expensive. But we encourage the Legislature to look into the possibility.

That would be fairer than anonymous reporting.