What to do With Elderly Drivers?

[David]

Originally Posted by NightMgr

But, in a democratic society where the elderly are the greatest block of voters, how does the society acheive this. There's generally a protest by the elderly when laws restricting or even asking for more testing of them are propopsed. They have a very effective lobby that essentially says "If you vote for this, Mr. Legislator, it will be your last term."

We have a winner.
When I lived in Florida you would see this all the time. I lived for three years in St. Petersburg. AKA "God's Waiting Room." 82 year old drivers were the younger ones. The banks put barriers around the drive thru kiosks because these folks would plow right into them.

What was sad was how otherwise talkative politicians would go silent at the mention of obligatory periodic testing after the age of 65 or 70. NM is correct those folks vote in large percentages. Don't want to be messed with.

[NightMgr]

Perhaps when they start crippling and killing enough of their own grandchildren, they'll change their perception of their own self interest.

Don't know how many will die first, though.

I understand physicians are also reluctant to report elders who are losing their abilities due to liability. It can also be very hard on children who see the risk their aged parents are imposing on others and even themselves.

I've also read of one study that suggests that elderly people are probably responsible for more accidents than those they are involved in. They do something unexpected and insane in traffic and other cars collide avoiding them, but they drive on unaware of the problem they created.

Obviously, the fact we have such poor public transportation is an issue, as well as the distance we often have between ourselves and our parents.

My maternal grandmother never learned to drive. When she babysat for me, we'd walk together to the local grocery. Of course, that grocery is too small to be viable any longer, and is now a printing factory, and the closest store requires a trip across the highway and is about 4 times as far away. The field we youngsters referred to as "the trails" where we'd have a shortcut is now a church office complex surrounded by a 12 foot tall fence. If she were still with us, we couldn't walk to the store any longer, anyway, because it's now just too far away.

(Off topic but amusing, when I was with her once I stole some of the Brach's candy that was available by the pound. I had a few pieces in my pocket, and I pulled one out on our walk home. She said "Where did you get that? Did you steal that candy?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Never steal. Now give me half of the candy.")

[Addison]

Originally Posted by toobdoow

Wish I could...waiting on scheduling to have both knees replaced.

Doesn't sound like fun, at all. Keep us posted, ok?

[Addison]

Originally Posted by NightMgr

I've also read of one study that suggests that elderly people are probably responsible for more accidents than those they are involved in. They do something unexpected and insane in traffic and other cars collide avoiding them, but they drive on unaware of the problem they created.

No doubt.

(Of course, I would say the same about Asians, whom I otherwise admire, but are notorious for the whole hesitative driving... stop/start/stop before turning/fearful of merging so stop at the ramp's entrance to tollway. )

(I had a driving tester tell me his theory on why, but it was complicated, having to do with their culture, as he noticed a difference between those who were from say, China vs Korea.)

(Off topic but amusing, when I was with her once I stole some of the Brach's candy that was available by the pound. I had a few pieces in my pocket, and I pulled one out on our walk home. She said "Where did you get that? Did you steal that candy?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Never steal. Now give me half of the candy.")

[schaabdl]

Night: excellent point - the block of voters who would gripe the most are the very target of the forum! However, as we have learned through other issues - sometimes the POLS will do something that is not popular. I think if one state implements some of the ideas above, then others may in fact follow!
***
Toob: Understand the knees - after every weekend the knees seem a bit stiffer come Monday. I quit jogging for the bicycle so my only running is on the soccer field. (I will feel it Monday with 8 mini-games this weekend for a state youth tournament!). And, a lot of work using the WII Fit (especially steps, yoga, strength) has really helped the flexibility.

[David]

States seek tests for older drivers
By Larry Copeland, USA TODAY
A looming "gray wave" of Baby Boomers expected on the nation's highways over the next two decades has prompted states to launch programs aimed at allowing seniors to keep driving as long as they can without endangering themselves or others.

The number of Americans 65 and older will jump from 39 million in 2010 to 69 million in 2030, according to Census projections. Today, about 15% of all drivers in the USA are 65 or older; by 2025, one-quarter will be, says Peter Kissinger, president and CEO of AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

"I really don't think our society is ready for that," he says. "We are not ready with respect to the kinds of issues older drivers face."

What states are doing:

•California is analyzing results of a pilot project in which drivers who failed an initial written or vision test were required to take additional tests, sometimes including an eye exam and a road test.

The state also offers limited licenses in which elderly drivers are tested — and licensed to drive — only on specific routes that they travel regularly, says Charley Fenner of the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

•Maryland state law allows police, doctors and residents including relatives to refer potentially unfit drivers to the Motor Vehicle Administration's Medical Advisory Board. Police refer about 700 people annually; about 60% of them are drivers over age 65, says Carl Soderstrom, chief of the advisory board. Some drivers are retested.

•A 2004 Florida law requiring that older drivers pass a vision test before getting a license renewed has helped cut the death rate among drivers 80 and older by 17%, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"It didn't go down for other ages in Florida," says Gerald McGwin, lead author of the study and UAB epidemiology professor.

No single standard

Experts say people age so differently that it's impossible to devise a single standard for when driving privileges should end.

"One of the biggest concerns I have is the stereotyping of older drivers in general," says Thomas Meuser, a gerontologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who studied a Missouri law that allows family members, doctors, police and others to report potentially unsafe drivers.

"Most older drivers are safe drivers," he says. "The challenge is older drivers with either subtle but progressive health issues that affect them without their knowledge."

Driving is often vitally important for seniors. Several studies have shown that taking the keys from elderly drivers who have no other transportation can cause them to become depressed or inactive, lose access to health care and die sooner.

The latest state thrust into the debate over elderly drivers is Massachusetts, where a recent series of incidents involving elderly drivers culminated with a June 13 crash. An 89-year-old woman who had been involved in previous crashes allegedly struck and killed a 4-year-old girl crossing the street near Boston with her grandfather and two siblings. Police charged the driver with motor-vehicle homicide, and the state revoked her license. The woman is contesting the citation.

Call for retesting

Massachusetts state Sen. Brian Joyce, a Democrat, is pushing a bill requiring drivers older than 85 to pass a vision and road test every five years. Current law requires only a vision test every 10 years, which "is simply inadequate," Joyce says. "We test drivers when they're 16½, and they're never tested again."

That's the case in most states. Eighteen states require that elderly drivers renew their licenses more often than younger drivers, but only Illinois and New Hampshire require road tests for older drivers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

AARP and other advocates for seniors call age-based testing discriminatory and ineffective.

"There are those who believe that driving is a right and not a privilege," says North Carolina state Rep. Ric Killian, a Republican whose bill requiring road tests for drivers older than 85 and shorter license terms for those older than 75 was defeated in April.

"Because of the strength of the AARP, it's very difficult to change state law," he says. "If it's hard today, it's going to be impossible in 10 years when there are even more older drivers on the roads."

Age isn't the issue, says Elinor Ginzler, AARP's senior vice president for livable communities. "We absolutely agree we need to change the way driver's licenses are renewed," she says. "What determines your safety isn't your age but your ability."

The AARP supports in-person licensing renewals and pre-license screening that is not age-based, Ginzler says. "But most states have reduced the number of times you have to appear in person and changed to renewal online or in the mail" to cut costs, she says.



Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...-drivers_N.htm

[David]

A 76-year-old Florida woman has been charged with careless driving after she slammed her car into a crowded supermarket Saturday, injuring 10 people, including a baby.

Thelma Wagenhoffer, of Palm Coast, Fla., was nearing a stop sign at a Palm Coast Publix supermarket parking lot around 1 p.m. when her 2004 Toyota Camry "accelerated rapidly as it crossed the parking lot" and crashed through the store's front doors, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The Camry, described by witnesses as going about 50 mph, then careened 40 to 50 feet inside the store before coming to a halt by the checkout counters, according to local ABC affiliate WFTS.

Newly released surveillance video and 911 calls show the chaos that ensued inside the Publix as frantic shoppers fled for their lives.

SOURCE

[Mad_Dog]

Here's a documentary about this.

[schaabdl]

Chris Krok has had this a topic du'jour on WBAP all this week. I've stated before to my kids - the day they note that I am not driving near speed limit or other inattentive activity is the day they take the car keys away.