Welcome | Elderly Driver
ELDERLY DRIVER - Driving with confidence!
Why a Site Devoted to the Elderly Driver?
Only two years ago, I still thought of myself as a middle-aged man and, decidedly, not an elderly driver. But, with eight grandchildren, increasingly greying temples and the arrival of my sixty-first birthday, only a few short months ago, I have decided to embrace the irreversible march of time, and all that goes with it – I am and henceforth, will ever be an elderly driver. Now, when I say embrace, I don’t mean “accept without challenge.” But, I am admitting, I finally have arrived at “seniorhood”. (Watch out seniors’ discount providers, I’m heading your way!)
Realizing that I am an elderly driver means, among other things, that I need to be really honest about my capability as a driver. That’s kind of scary! I’ve been driving for over 40 years. I depend on it. Driving an automobile is part of me. It gives me independence. It gives me control. And while, intellectually, I could understand why I might not be driving at 95 or, even 85, it gets much harder to grasp the notion that I might be asked to stop operating a car in my 70′s. (Afterall, that could be only a decade away.) So, I decided the best way to prepare for this challenge is not to sit idly by and let the years roll by, catching me unprepared. I want to understand what, as an elderly driver, to expect in the coming years concerning my driving performance. I want to asses my driving performance, as an elderly driver, against what I learn and devise strategies to improve my performance. I want, at the very least, to slow down the inevitable deterioration of my driving performance as an elderly driver and to be drive, as many years as I am able, with confidence! That’s what this website is all about. It will serve as a repository of what I learn and a means to share with you, my fellow elderly driver. This site is broadly organized under these categories: Driving Performance, Assessment and Improvement!
Driving Performance Factors
This section will be devoted to understanding the physical, cognitive, psychological, and even spiritual factors that can affect driving performance of an elderly driver Driving Assessment This section will focus on how an elderly driver can come to a clear, realistic conclusion about his or her driving performance. Tools will be provided to allow the elderly driver to do a self assessment that help him or her establish a baseline for on-going comparison of driving capability. To provide a thorough underpinning for the elderly driver to draw conclusion about a self-assessment resource material will be available to show how physicians and other professionals assess the elderly driver for performance.
Driving Improvement Strategies
This other major section will provide a host of ideas and suggestions for an elderly driver to improve his or her driving performance and maintain optimal and safe performance.
Other Sections
Besides these major sections, you will find information from government and private organizations that are loaded with help in assessment and improvement of driving performance for the elderly driver. In addition, we have news about the elderly driver, including incident reports, alerts, new laws being proposed and ratified and much more.
Staying in Touch with ElderlyDriver.org
Finally, there is my blog where I will keep you informed about all matters related to the elderly driver. I hope you will read it regularly. In fact, to receive updates to my blog posts, you can either subscribe to receive them by email or as a news feed. See below to subscribe. Please don’t be a stranger. Come back to this site for updates to its other key sections. Better yet, bookmark this site so that you can find it easily when you want to return. Now, this site is still under construction and so many of the planned sections are days away from being available. However, just to make this first visit more fruitful, I want to encourage you to watch the following terrific video documentary, “Old People Driving.” I think that if you are elderly driver, or a relative or a friend of one, you will find it both touching and illuminating. Enjoy!
Old People Driving from Doran Danoff on Vimeo.
The only measure scientifically proven to lower the rate of fatal crashes involving elderly drivers is forcing the seniors to appear at motor vehicle departments in person to renew their licenses.
Hi Edward:
Here are some thoughts about your comment. I take it that the logic of the “scientifically proven” measure you cite is that once they have been screened at their respective DMVs, potentially dangerous senior drivers will be identified and their driving privileges invalidated, thus removing them from the general motoring population. You may be right, but I still have some questions. First, what are your sources? Was the evidence used by your source(s) the result of multiple studies or just one? If your “proven” measure is merely a correlational statistic, how can we be sure that other factors correlate just as strongly and may, in fact, prove to be causal? Were there other factors contributing to the senior driver’s decision to quit driving, rather than a visit to their DMV, such as family pressures to stop driving or prohibitive costs of operating a vehicle on a fixed income. Are more elderly drivers already considering turning in their keys around the same time that most states and provinces require renewal of licences, with all the attendant tests?
Incidentally, the evaluation criteria used by DMVs in the U.S. vary, both in factors assessed and the age when mandatory re-assessments are required. So, I would think, that a more illuminating statistic would be to assess the drop in elderly-caused crashes by state and by the type of assessment criteria used in that state. But that opens up a whole can of worms. Because, unless a road test is required, state DMV generally don’t assess elderly drivers for the following:
1. Does the driver neglect to buckle up?
2. Does the driver have difficulty working the pedals?
3. Does the driver have difficulty merging on freeways, or turning onto busy streets?
4. When merging or changing lanes, does the driver rely only on the mirrors, rather than turning fully to check the blind spots over his or her shoulder?
5. Does the driver have trouble seeing other vehicles, cyclists, or pedestrians, especially at night?
6. Does the driver seem to ignore or “miss” stop signs and other traffic signals?
7. Does the driver react too slowly to sirens and flashing lights of emergency vehicles?
8. Does the driver weave, straddle lanes, drift into other lanes, or change lanes without signaling?
9. Does the driver position the car improperly for turns (especially left turns), or attempt turns from the wrong lane?
10. Do other drivers honk or pass frequently, even when the traffic stream is moving relatively slowly?
11. Does the driver tend to park extraordinarily far from his or her destination?
12. Does the driver get lost or disoriented easily, even in familiar places?
13. Do you find yourself giving directions or prompting the driver frequently?
14. Has the driver been issued two or more traffic tickets or warnings in the past two years?
15. Has the driver been involved in two or more collisions or “nearmisses” in the past two years? [If the DMV has that information, then they might be able to factor that into their consideration; but that is a big “if”.
In addition, you mention the rate of fatal crashes, involving elderly drivers. Are you referring to fatalities of the elderly, the rest of the population, or both? If it is elderly fatalities, that can be easily attributed to the relative frailty of the elderly, resulting in not being able to withstand the trauma of a crash, not necessarily to their driving ability. Furthermore, the elderly in those statistics might be passengers or pedestrians, not drivers.
Anyway those are just some thoughts when considering the so-called solutions for preventing elderly driver mishaps. I welcome your response.
Dan
Driving is not all about how old and young is the driver, the most important is the discipline when we are on the road.
Well said! Would you care to elaborate?
Some believe that elderly drivers with diminished vision and hearing, as well as slower reflexes, pose a greater danger to society as a whole.
Hi Elderly Driver:
I am looking forward to reading your posts and exploring the section of the site still underconstruction
My spouse and I stumbled over here different web page and thought I may as well check things out. I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward to going over your web page for a second time.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate your efforts and I will be waiting for your further post thank you once again.