Old age caught up to Richard Burton a year ago, when his eyesight deteriorated to the point he could only ride his beloved motorcycle on sunny days.
Difficult though it was for the lifelong off-road rider, Burton, 76, stowed his street-legal yellow Yamaha dirt bike in a storage space near his Yucaipa trailer, recognizing it was just too dangerous with his macular degeneration picking away at his vision.
“I’ve had good health all my life,” Burton said. “It didn’t hit me I was old until I couldn’t see so well.”
As Americans live longer and the post-war generation hits its golden years, the issue of how a deluge of seniors will move around is starting to affect transportation planning, changing everything from the brightness and size of street signs to increased spending on public transit.
dug begley 