              |
 |
April 2007 Back to Table of Contents Back to Archives Main Page Section: Being Well Driving: A Right Or A Privilege? By Toby Laping, Ph. D., C.S.W., Private Care Manager
Should seniors be required to pass road tests before license renewals? Senior groups resent that idea as age discrimination, arguing that teenagers are a greater safety risk behind the wheel. Still, carefully designed studies have shown that seniors are involved in a disproportionate number of automobile accidents. Perhaps everyone should take a road test periodically but the cost would be prohibitive, so instead there’s targeting of seniors as high risk drivers. There are many reasons why one may need to give up driving and some of those reasons are age related. 1. Hearing loss is not so irrelevant as it seems. Can the driver hear the siren of an ambulance or police car? If not, the chances of a collision are enhanced when other drivers respond to a siren by pulling over. Or, a collision with an emergency vehicle is a real danger. And in this area in the winter time, most of us drive with our windows closed which makes sound even more muffled. Turn a radio on, and the problem is magnified. 2. Arthritis can exacerbate driving problems. Cars have blind spots. Can the driver turn his head quickly enough and far enough to check blind spots? Can the driver turn his body to look out the rear window before backing up? Merely looking in the rear view mirror isn’t sufficient. 3. Cognitive deficits can be a serious problem, not merely for the driver himself who may forget where he’s going or how to get home. Those deficits can also cause a driver to forget to be in the right hand lane to turn right, or to look before backing up. When there are doubts about driving skills, one of Western New York’s best evaluations is given by the Outpatient Occupational Therapy Department of Erie Co. Medical Center. It isn’t cheap; the cost is $236, but it’s thorough and worth the money. One of its beauties is that it’s objective and removes decision making from the shoulders of reluctant families who want to do the right thing but also don’t want to hurt the feelings of their loved one. There’s no easy way to tell a relative that he can no longer drive, so allowing an objective person to deal with the issue gives family a cover while protecting the public. An alternative is to ask a driving school if their instructors will take a person on a road test to evaluate driving skills. Some will do this; not all look for adequate attention to application of skills. Or, as another alternative, the Department of Motor Vehicles can be asked to call a person in for a road test of skills, but that’s a slow process. Some seniors initiate their own evaluations and that’s a wonderful means of proving they are good drivers or alternatively, that the keys ought to be surrendered. Taking that risk is a public service. Toby Laping Association is a geriatric care management firm. The staff knows the long term care system, what is available in Western New York, and how to make services cost effective and responsive. Call 884-3277 or check their website, www.tobylapingassociates.com. back to top back to table of contents Current Issue | About Forever Young | Where to Find | Advertise | Our Advertisers | Community Calendar | Contest | Clubs | Contact Us | Archives | Home |
