George Weller was convicted this week of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. Three years ago Mr. Weller raced his car through a Santa Monica farmers market, killing 10 and injuring more than 70.

In April of this year, I wrote a column about Mayvis Coyle, an 82-year-old woman, who had received a $114 ticket from a Los Angeles Police Department officer for taking too long to cross a busy intersection. The following paragraph from my column generated more negative response than anything I have written, before or since….

The simple truth is that Ms. Coyle is no longer physically able to walk across a busy 5-lane street without creating a dangerous situation for herself and others. It would have been appropriate and kind for someone to have told this to Ms. Coyle before the incident. Perhaps someone has, and Ms. Coyle has refused to accept the truth.

I was blasted for being insensitive, for not respecting ‘elderly rights”, etc, etc, etc. The bottom line is that age is eventually debilitating for all of us. Reflexes slow, eyesight weakens and the chance of hurting yourself or others goes up. It starts at different ages for each of us, but denying it inevitability is silly and dangerous. Mr. Weller’s devastation on so many reminds us of this unavoidable, undeniable fact.

I hope it opens the eyes of many who insist that acknowledging the realties of age someone makes one an “ageist”, when in fact, it makes them a realist. While it may have been hard for Mr. Weller to hear three years ago – as he should have – that he was no longer capable of driving safely, it seems a small price to pay for saving the lives that were lost and destroyed.