Key Issues
As populations around the world grow older, the challenges nations face are not just about how to redefine retirement. Many other important issues confront aging societies, as well, and the Silver Century Foundation (SCF) will explore them on this web page. We will examine the complexities of aging, including topics such as interdependence among the generations and the problems individuals face because they must support themselves throughout an ever-lengthening life span.
Improve Road Skills To Extend Years Behind the Wheel
You may have discovered that driving becomes more difficult with age. Even so, the chances are you don’t want to give it up. Eventually, you may have to, but in the meanwhile there are many things you can do to improve your safety on the road and extend your time behind the wheel.
The first step is to figure out what kind of problems you have, if any. You can gauge your skills by taking a driving-assessment test online or a paper-and-pencil test in your community. If the assessment suggests that you’re no longer as road-worthy as you once were, you can upgrade your skills by taking a refresher class. What’s more, if you need it, rehabilitation therapy can do a lot for your reflexes, strength, and flexibility—all of which are important for safety’s sake.
Driving Assessments
These tests can cover many areas, including physical and mental skills, your knowledge of traffic regulations, and your on-the-road driving capability. You’ll find self-administered assessments at these websites:
• AAA: www.helpguide.org/elder/senior_citizen_driving.htm
• AARP: www.aarp.org/families/driver_safety/
• Edmunds.com: www.edmunds.com/ownership/safety/articles/121659/article.html
• TheHartford: http://www.thehartford.com/talkwitholderdrivers/helpbeyond/refusetostop.htm
Some local organizations also do assessments. AAA and AARP offer them both online and in person. Or you might try nearby rehab centers, hospitals, Veterans’ Administration centers, motor vehicle departments, or senior centers.
Another source of information is “Driving Safely While Aging Gracefully,” a pamphlet produced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It provides checklists that you can use to evaluate physical and mental capabilities related to driving. The pamphlet suggests possible remedies, as well. Look for it at the NHTSA website:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/olddrive/Driving%20Safely%20Aging%20Web/.
Typical assessment questions ask if you have problems reading highway or street signs or seeing at night. They might also ask whether medications you take make you sleepy. AARP’s “Close Call Quiz” inquires instead whether you’ve had recent near misses--at intersections, for example, or when merging into traffic.
Another AARP quiz tests “Driving IQ” with multiple-choice questions. This is a quick way to check your knowledge of traffic regulations, which may have changed in the years since you got your license. You’ll find the quiz at:
http://www.aarp.org/families/driver_safety/driver_ed/a2004-06-23-drivingiq.html
One of the questions included here is:
When backing up, it is usually best to:
a) Open the left door and look back
b) Steer with one hand while looking into the rearview mirror
c) Steer with one hand while looking out the rear window
d) Steer with both hands while looking into the rearview mirror
Most of us would probably answer ‘d’ since we were taught to keep both hands on the wheel. But the correct answer is ‘c,’ steer with one hand while looking out the rear window. If you rest your right arm on the back of the seat, it’s easier to twist your body for a really good look out the back window.
The assessment tools online or in your community may reveal an area of weakness that compromises your driving safety. That’s actually good news because it’s quite likely that you can correct that weakness once you’ve identified it.
Refresher Classes
Even if a driving assessment doesn’t turn up any major problems, a refresher course is not a bad idea. Safe driving depends on staying up to date on both driving skills and knowledge.
You’ll find information about refresher classes on the same websites mentioned already as places to go for an assessment, especially the AAA and AARP sites. Some classes are held locally, but you can also take a driving refresher course online.
In fact, AARP’s “Driver Safety Program” is available either online or in a classroom. Information about it is at:
www.aarp.org/families/driver_safety/driver_ed
This program is aimed at people 50 and over but anyone can take it. Among other things, it covers:
• The safest way to change lanes and make turns at intersections
• How to minimize dangerous blind spots
• The proper use of anti-lock breaks
If you didn’t grow up driving cars with anti-lock brakes, you may not know the best ways to use them.
Refresher classes have other advantages. Taking one can lower your car insurance rate or if you’ve had an accident, it can reduce the points on your license.
Rehabilitation
Aging changes your body, and that can affect your driving, but there’s a lot you can do to minimize the impact.
Of course, good vision is vital to good driving, so don’t forget to have your eyes tested regularly. Some people’s ability behind the wheel improves a great deal once they get new glasses or have cataracts removed. If night vision is a problem, at the moment the only solution is to give it up, but you can still go on driving in daylight.
Good drivers constantly scan the road in all directions. If you’re taking a familiar route and proceeding more or less on automatic pilot, it’s easy to forget to scan and focus only on the car ahead or an upcoming traffic light. That can lead to an accident. A driving instructor or rehab specialist can help you revive the scanning habit.
Your ears aren’t as crucial to road safety as your eyes are, but poor hearing does sometimes lead to accidents. It can prevent you from identifying what direction the blare of a car horn is coming from, or you might not notice a police or ambulance siren, especially if the radio is on or your passengers are talking. A hearing test is easy and painless. If you already have a hearing aid, make a habit of wearing it when you’re behind the wheel.
You might not think that drivers need to be physically fit, but reduced muscle strength can affect your ability to steer or to slam on the brakes, and loss of flexibility can make it hard to turn your head and scan the road. Studies show that physical therapy and exercise can improve strength, flexibility and coordination for almost everyone, at any age, and despite problems such as arthritis that may limit movement.
Your ability to process information, your memory and other cognitive skills are also fundamental to safe driving. Again, rehab programs can improve many forms of mild cognitive impairment.
Software developers have begun to produce computer programs designed to train and improve our mental abilities. CogniFit Senior Driver is specifically for those over age 55. It simulates driving tasks on a computer screen—for instance, it asks you to estimate the speed of approaching vehicles. The software isn’t cheap, but a test group of older individuals who used it regularly did noticeably improve their reaction time, visual scanning, and even their short-term memory. For a demo, go to the CogniFit website.
If you’re like most older Americans, you feel that driving is too important to the quality of your life to give up easily. Of course, safety is also important, your own and other people’s. Fortunately, today there are lots of ways to evaluate your road skills and improve them.
References
1. AAA: www.helpguide.org/elder/senior_citizen_driving.htm
2. AARP: www.aarp.org/families/driver_safety/
3. ADED: The Association for Driver Rehabilitation Specialists
P.O. Box 49
Edgerton, WI 53534
608-884-8833
www.driver-ed.org
4. American Occupational Therapy Association
4720 Montgomery Lane
Bethesda, MD 20824
301-652-2682
www.aota.org
5. Edmunds.com: www.edmunds.com/ownership/safety/articles/121659/article.html
6. TheHartford: http://www.thehartford.com/talkwitholderdrivers/helpbeyond/refusetostop.htm
7. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/olddrive/Driving%20Safely%20Aging%20Web/
