Elderly Parents Driving Vehicles

[irishgal]

My mom stopped driving at 84 because her dementia was too bad, but my dad still drives at 86, also passed the FAA physical last year so he still pilots his own small aircraft (a fact that both scares and amazes me).

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by irishgal My mom stopped driving at 84 because her dementia was too bad, but my dad still drives at 86, also passed the FAA physical last year so he still pilots his own small aircraft (a fact that both scares and amazes me).

Definitely amazing!

I hope to have enough wits about me to drive as long as possible, but give it up when I know it's time.

Any thoughts of being a pilot, however, are long in the past. Plus, a plane doesn't fit my ramen noodle budget...

[irishgal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR Definitely amazing! I hope to have enough wits about me to drive as long as possible, but give it up when I know it's time. Any thoughts of being a pilot, however, are long in the past. Plus, a plane doesn't fit my ramen noodle budget...

I can imagine that it is very hard to give it up-coupled with the possible denial that we are too old to drive, ugh, it's going to be tough.

Ramen noodles are yum!

[Theseus]

Good reading, DM just passed her 87th birthday and is still driving. Local stuff only, doctor appointments about 5 blocks away from her apartment, grocery store a mile or so. Sometimes she feels adventurous and will take the back roads to our house, about 8 miles away. Like the fact she calls first, gives me the opportunity to tell her to just sit tight, 'we were just about to drive into town ourselves' to give her an out, which she has no problem with. She seems cognizant enough of declining physical reactions and mental acuity to know it is becoming more of a risk to drive.

I've told her if she ever doesn't feel like driving just call me and I'll drive her to where ever she wants to go. I know it is getting to be time for the talk about giving up her car, but I suspect she will feel that to not be able to drive herself will be too much of a burden on others. Available senior transportation doesn't appeal to her much, but I think she would use it. DW and I have discussed offering to buy her car from her as a way for her to give up driving, will be offering up that alternative to her soon.

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Galt III My dad is 90 and no longer drives, thank God. From about 85 to 90 his memory for where things were, and even for where he was trying to go, were deteriorating. He would sometimes do a U turn on a divided highway because he was lost. First we got him to agree to only driving in the daytime. This seemed to be OK but even so he continued to get lost and drive and drive and drive, finally finding his way home. He refused to carry a cell phone of course. He was a burden on those around him (as is often the case with old folks, unfortunately). Now he has finally agreed not to drive anymore, and we have even sold his car, with his permission. He was getting to be quite unsafe. My mom who is 92 is still a fairly safe driver.

Ah, the cell phone.

Dad carried one and used it once or twice.

Then he forgot he had it.

Then he once remembered he had it, but forgot how to use it (even though it was a "Jitterbug", supposedly easy to use).

He also had a medical alert button. But when he fell, he forgot he had it.

All this was going on and he was still driving. On the outside, it looks so simple to take away the keys. No. This is a really difficult issue.

[jollystomper]

MIL is 84, in good health, and still drives. Not long distances, where she lives she can get to most things in less than 15 miles. By her choice she limits her driving to 0-2 trips per day.

[HFWR]

At 61, with no dementia, though slightly demented, according to some, I already limit my driving to as few trips/miles as possible, mostly because of the idjets...

That's "idiots" for those who don't speak Texan.

[Theseus]

Just got back from an afternoon drive. Beautiful by Wisconsin standards October day, upper 50's and sunshine. Top down, with the heat on.

Oh, yeah - we got lost. At least in my decades of wandering around the backroads, found some I'd never been on before! Hope that doesn't mean I'll have to give up driving anytime soon.

[travelover]

My great uncle went blind at about age 70, so he would have his wife drive him around even though she was quite senile. They pulled off this act until they were in their mid 80's when her driving got so bad that even Unk realized it was time to quit.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Theseus Oh, yeah - we got lost. At least in my decades of wandering around the backroads, found some I'd never been on before! Hope that doesn't mean I'll have to give up driving anytime soon.

That's why I had a GPS mount on the handlebar of my motorcycle. I'd go on a "follow-my-nose" ride and end up uh, somewhere west of nowhere with no idea how to get back home. Sure, I could head in the general direction and eventually I'd stumble across something recognizable but it was easier to just turn on the GPS when I was tired and just wanted to go home.

[aja8888]

Speaking of driving, I just drove from the east side of Pittsburgh, PA on Rt 22 at rush hour in a driving rainstorm trying to get to the airport on the west side across the river. Driving is becoming "not fun".

If I was a few years older, no way would I attempt this.