Safe Seniors Driving

A point of "nature shows senior citizens have declining physical functions,and increased medication usage can increase the risk of accidents and injury among older adults, especially after age 75, when the risk of being involved in a collision increases for every mile they drive. The rate of risk for adults over age 75 is nearly equal to the risk of younger drivers age 16 to 24. Fatalities increase slightly after age 65 and significantly after age 75. This is directly related to the inability to withstand physical trauma as a person ages over 75.

These statistics highlight the risk of older drivers. Each family must ask, “Is my older loved one safe while driving?” Once that question is answered, the next question becomes, who should do the talking? Older adults generally prefer to speak confidentially about driving safety with someone they trust. Interesting enough the spouse are less likely to listen to advice to put aside the car keys. Folks that live alone are more likely to listen to their physician over a family member. However, adult children seem to have more influence with parents over 70 than with younger parents in their 50s and 60s. These differences often correlate to health changes and shifts in parent-child relationships later in life. Older drivers also tend to be more open to adult children who live nearby.

Bottom line it is a sensitive issue that must be handled very carefully with sensitivity to the mobitity and respect of all involved

Some steps include:
• Watch for changes in driving habits, general behavior, and health.
• Encourage a driving evaluation through your local Department of Motor Vehicles, along with refresher driving lessons and the AARP Driver Safetycourse.
• Offer the senior some self-evaluation tools to assess driving risk, or work together on these quizzes. See especially the driver assessment questionnaires from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
• Explore ways to reduce driving, such as making purchases online or through mail-order catalogs. If possible, arrange for home delivery of groceries, and home visits by clergy, medical and personal care providers, and government service providers.
• If necessary, garner support from the older adult’s primary care physician and other family members.
• Research and propose alternative modes of transportation. Maybe the senior can continue to drive some of the time (such as in the daytime or off the freeway), and alternative transportation can fill the need for rides at other times.

Talking to a senior driver who should stop driving...

If you feel that it is time to talk to a senior close to you about stopping driving, approach the issue with sensitivity. A driver’s license signifies more than the ability to drive a car; it is a symbol of:
• freedom
• independence and independent living
• self-sufficiency
• being employed
• fun and spontaneity
• involvement in social and religious activities

Best bet is to make other arrangements for transportation that suits the loved senior.

Understandably, driving is not a privilege that anyone—teenager or elder—wants to relinquish willingly. As important as it is to treat the senior driver with respect and not jump to unjust conclusions, it is also important to help the elderly driver retire from the road. Start slowly and try to persuade the senior to give up the keys. Perhaps first reduce the night driving then hours during the day. Showing that less driving does not necessarily mean not getting what is needed