Seventy is the new 60, one website proclaims. It’s the new 50, says another. The new 40, says yet another.

It’s age we’re talking about, and the general understanding that we’re living longer and reaching those elder years in better health, better able to move about independently.

In our cars, for instance.

Drivers age 72 and older have been surprised and sometimes angered to find that crossing that age line means they can renew their Hawaii driver licenses for only two years, versus the eight years of younger drivers.

“This is not right,” a reader said in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Kokua Line,” stating that at age 72 he was a competitive athlete in excellent health and still working full time. When renewing his license, he was surrounded by people less alert and agile, but younger, and they were all getting eight-year renewals.

A good point, and state lawmakers are taking heed.

The city asked for a change in the law, to give drivers age 72 and up four years before having to renew. That’s the same renewal period given drivers aged 24 and younger. The change is incorporated in Senate Bill 2679, which received approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Public testimony at a hearing last month was limited, but all in favor.

The state Department of Transportation, in fact, noted that it has found no local data showing that drivers in their 70s and older are any more likely to be involved in an accident than a younger driver. The department also cited an American Automobile Association study stating that only 21 of 51 U.S. jurisdictions shorten their license renewal period based on driver age.

The city also testified in favor of the proposed change, as did the state Executive Office on Aging and AARP Hawaii.

The only objection expressed was to a section that would have required that drivers age 70 and up present a doctor’s certification of their physical and mental competence. “This seems like age discrimination,” one private individual said.

And it’s unnecessary, the DOT said, “as many 70-year-olds are quite fit physically and capable of doing a wide range of activities including driving.”

The testimony of one young person really made the case: “My grandfather, aged 73, is one of the best drivers I know — a far better driver than my father, mother and myself,” Ryden Iwamoto wrote. His grandpa is busy caring for several grandchildren, dogs and the house, and renewing his license took hours out of his day. Forcing him to do so every two years is an unnecessary ordeal “that takes his attention away from the things that really matter.”

All this adds up to a common-sense statutory tweak that accommodates changes inevitable with age, without imposing an overly burdensome inconvenience on those who’ve crossed the Rubicon of their 70th year.

It further adds up to that oft-repeated phrase: “personal responsibility.” It bears emphasizing that all drivers of all ages — and the people close to them — must frequently assess their physical and mental ability to operate a potentially dangerous vehicle in motion.

Beyond that, it is left to observations made by licensing clerks at the time of renewal to detect concerns that might make it unsafe for anyone to drive. They can call for a medical clearance if they detect a problem. That’s a lot to put on a clerk in the licensing office.

This discussion may be rooted in questions of age and fairness, but it reminds us that driving is a privilege, one that we must constantly earn, both with cautious behavior on the road and with honestly about our health, our reflexes and our acuity.