74-year-old crashes into doughnut shop

A vehicle driven by a 74-year-old Holbrook man crashed into the Dunkin' Donuts shop on Route 37 on Saturday morning, apparently when the man stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake pedal by mistake, police said.

There were several customers and employees in the shop, but no one was injured, fire department Lt. David Kincus said.

"The crash snapped the tables right off," Kincus said. "If anybody had been sitting at the tables, there would have been serious injuries, no doubt about it. They would've been thrown," he said.

Gov. Deval Patrick has come out in favor of testing older drivers, although he has said he isn't sure at what age the testing should begin.

State Sen. Brian Joyce, D-Milton, is pushing a bill to require residents 85 and older to pass a road test and a vision test as part of the license-renewal process.

In Illinois, a measure similar to Joyce's has been on the books since the early 1990s, and officials say it has been effective.

Several years after the regulations were passed, the state found that in the affected age group there was:

A 58.4 percent decrease in crashes.

A 42.2 percent decrease in fatal crashes.

A 69.1 percent decrease in injury crashes.

AARP strongly opposes the idea of an age-based driving license requirement in Massachusetts.

In March, AARP Massachusetts helped launch "Safe Roads Now," which urges lawmakers to explore tightening license requirements based on driving ability, not on age.

Other parties involved in the effort include the Massachusetts Association of Councils on Aging and Senior Center Directors, and the Massachusetts-New Hampshire chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.

In Holbrook on Saturday, crews worked to clean up the glass, wood and other debris left behind at Dunkin' Donuts.

The crash occurred at 10:35 a.m. The vehicle went through a wall and about 1½ feet into the doughnut shop, Kincus said.

The crash caused an estimated $35,000 in structural damage, he said. The shop will likely remain closed for several days, Kincus said.

Whether the driver will face charges was not known.

Kyle Alspach can be reached at kalspach@enterprisenews.com.