Driving at Age 97

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmm99 65 still seems quite young to me, but I'll be there in a few years, so that may be why. When I was in my 30's, 65 was ancient. And another thing. I see a lot of airport shuttle drivers are in their 60's and 70's. For whatever reason. I feel pretty safe in their hands, but it's likely that their reaction time is slower compared to the young ones.

Are you worried they will miss the text messages, because that is what I see many young drivers doing, texting and driving 85 mph down the freeway..

[Nick12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigdawg Driving is NOT a right. Can't drive until I'm 16-discrimination! Can't vote until I'm 18-discrimination! Can't drink until I'm 21-discrimination! Can't run for president until I'm 35-discrimination!

Me too!!! Another me too movement excuse.

[Pellice]

Let's put aside the cognitive impairment that lessens one's ability to evaluate one's own driving for a moment.

So what are WE going to do to prevent US from being "those" drivers? The NY Times today has a story generated by Philip's accident about impaired older drivers. It mentions a "driving contract" with the younger generation whereby we let them make the call. Hmmm.

I have been a safe driver but never considered myself particularly good. I already find myself in my early 60s avoiding night driving - and when I can't avoid it, I'm fearful. I plan to take a senior driving course from AARP this year. I paid extra for a car with safety features (but am kind of afraid of them - what happens if the car brakes for me? What happens if the lane markings run out?) I leave 1 car length per 10 miles of speed for the car in front of me (that REALLY helps). My next move to another home will take walkability into consideration. I look forward to self-driving cars with great anticipation. I will probably be one who surrenders car keys sooner rather than later. But, even now, I'm building some cash towards my "next car" to be purchased sometime in my 70s. I wonder if I will ever need it.

[LuckyDog]

My FIL is age 94 and still drives. None of us will ride with him. He has backed into out car and crashed into BIL's car too. This along with numerous broken tail lights, slightly dented fenders etc. When he visits, we all move our cars out of the way. This morning, we are in the midst of a pretty big snowstorm and he surely will go out to buy a newspaper. All of this despite the fact that we have hinted (asked) that he stop driving. Somebody please take away the keys!

[frank]

If you think older drivers are a hazard you should call your kids or grandkids schools and ask the age of the bus drivers. I know some locally that are 80 years old. I am 73 and they will only renew my license for 3 years and was told when you hit 80 the testing is more frequent. Age isn't a general overall guideline for eligibility but it should be a consideration. If someone in my family tries to take my license there will be problems.

[PatrickA5]

My dad drove until 96. He never had any accidents, but it still scared me. I went with him to get his driver's license renewed at 95. I felt for sure that they would want to test him (or at least discourage him), but they were happy to give him a new license - for free! Not even an eye test.

To be honest, the few times I rode with him he did fine. My brother kept telling me to take away his keys. My brother (who lived out of state) wouldn't tell him, he wanted me to do it. I tried. I disconnected his battery. He called AAA. Towards the end, he couldn't walk well enough once he got somewhere, so he stopped driving. I was relieved.

I tell DW that I'm going to propose a new law. Not for older drivers, but for texters. If someone cause me to miss a light due to texting there should be a mandatory $1,000 fine and 30 days in jail. She thinks I'm joking. I'm not.

[Dtail]

Texting while driving has to be a primary violation for starters and not a secondary violation like it is in some states.

[Silver]

I'm not sure if Prince Philip was wearing a seat belt at the time of his accident, but he was stopped by police for driving without a seat belt 48 hours after it happened. Seat belt use is the law in England.

People drive badly at all ages. At least try and mitigate your own injuries.


https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/20/uk/du...ntl/index.html

[eytonxav]

Just open you eyes and look around you when you are out driving. Are the sucky dangerous drivers senior citizens?

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFW_M5 Just open you eyes and look around you when you are out driving. Are the sucky dangerous drivers senior citizens?

Around me in FLA (not a true retirement area), when I see the dangerous drivers, they are always youngins and usually male.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatrickA5 My dad drove until 96. He never had any accidents, but it still scared me. I went with him to get his driver's license renewed at 95. I felt for sure that they would want to test him (or at least discourage him), but they were happy to give him a new license - for free! Not even an eye test. To be honest, the few times I rode with him he did fine. My brother kept telling me to take away his keys. My brother (who lived out of state) wouldn't tell him, he wanted me to do it. I tried. I disconnected his battery. He called AAA. Towards the end, he couldn't walk well enough once he got somewhere, so he stopped driving. I was relieved. I tell DW that I'm going to propose a new law. Not for older drivers, but for texters. If someone cause me to miss a light due to texting there should be a mandatory $1,000 fine and 30 days in jail. She thinks I'm joking. I'm not.

I was rear ended on I-70 by someone who had to be texting. She was the only person who didn't stop. As I stopped I looked in the rear mirror and she was looking down. Of course this was in MO where it's legal to text and drive.

Hahaha, someone upstream was worried about people driving under the influence of cannabis! You can test for cannabis but you can't test if someone is texting.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFW_M5 Just open you eyes and look around you when you are out driving. Are the sucky dangerous drivers senior citizens?

We have tons of seniors here being a popular winter snowbird location. And no, those aren’t the worst drivers around at all. It’s not only about reaction time. Paying attention and looking where you are going, being patient and having reasonable good judgement/not taking crazy risks is a big part of good driving and avoiding accidents. I see plenty of middle/family age people doing stupid risky stuff because they are in such a hurry.

[Teacher Terry]

When my dad had a big stroke at 59 he crumpled up his DL and said I’ll never drive again. It was sad because he loved to drive but realized he wasn’t safe anymore.

[Music Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFW_M5 Just open you eyes and look around you when you are out driving. Are the sucky dangerous drivers senior citizens?

Of course not all senior drivers are dangerous. But, the realities of aging drivers with diminishing skills can't be ignored just because some younger drivers are bad too.

I've always been a fan of a driver's test for all drivers every XX number of years. By requiring everyone to re-test no one can claim age discrimination.

[mountainsoft]

Aggressive drivers and distracted drivers worry me more than seniors. Seniors usually drive slow and are paying extra attention. The dangerous drivers are the younger and middle age folks who follow too close, speed around me, cut in front of me on the freeway, accelerate quickly at a light even though I'm in front of them, drive way too fast for conditions, rush to get a parking spot, drive too fast through parking lots, etc. Not to mention younger folks are always on their phones instead of driving, and they're always angry and in a hurry.

That said, judgement and reaction times slow as we age. My wife recently totaled her car when an older senior pulled out in front of her on our county road. The other drivers age may have factored into the accident, but she could have been any age and just not paying attention.

My mother-in-law still drives at 80, just around her little town going to church and get groceries. She has neuropathy due to diabetes and can't feel her feet, but she has never had even a small accident.

[gauss]

Folks,

There may be processes in your state to address this issue.

In my state, I believe that anyone can make a referral to the DMV to recommend a driver performance review/test. This would include medical professionals, family, neighbors etc. A series of tickets or court appearances could also trigger a review.

That all being said, when I was taught to drive, back in the day, we were always taught to be "looking out for the other guy". I assume that people are not going to stop ,despite what the law says they must do, if their not stopping will adversely impact me.

Not sure that I want to live in a society where we are all bubble wrapped to protect us from any possible risk.

I seem to remember that we had a similar thread here regarding this issue a few months back.

-gauss

[Koolau]

in the FWIW department, I (and several friends) had to scrunch up against a building back in 1964 as the Prince roared past us. It may not all be about age but YMMV.

[38Chevy454]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigdawg "Studies also indicate fatal crashes-per-miles-traveled increased for individuals, ages 70 to 74. ....snip

I didn't read the link, but my first thought on this statement was that older people may also sustain more severe injuries for the same accident vs a young person. So it may not be the accident rate, but rather the more fragile health of the driver that contributes to the higher death rate? Just a thought for consideration.

[Car-Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 38Chevy454 I didn't read the link, but my first thought on this statement was that older people may also sustain more severe injuries for the same accident vs a young person. So it may not be the accident rate, but rather the more fragile health of the driver that contributes to the higher death rate? Just a thought for consideration.

Wow, that hits close to home and seems so valid from my POV. I had numerous accidents when I was in my teens and into my 20's. I was thrown out of a car once (as it flipped) and I dropped a couple of motorcycles. Walked away from all those without breaking any of "my" body parts. The cars and motorcycles were not so lucky. Any of those would probably ended differently for me today.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuckyDog My FIL is age 94 and still drives. None of us will ride with him. He has backed into out car and crashed into BIL's car too. This along with numerous broken tail lights, slightly dented fenders etc. When he visits, we all move our cars out of the way.<snip> Somebody please take away the keys!

You have a good chance of making this happen. Write a letter to the DMV in the state where he lives detailing those actions. Almost every state has a procedure in place to "randomly" retest drivers whose driving abilities are in decline for whatever reason.

I did that years ago for FIL, and it was one of the hardest letters I ever had to write. I actually liked the guy and knew that it could take away his mobility, but I and DW also realized that he was a danger to himself and others. To everyone's astonishment he (barely) passed the driving test but the issue was resolved a few months later when the car needed repairs he couldn't afford. But I would have bet my next pension check that he'd have failed the test.

BTW, in an example of governmental common sense, if you do write such a letter the state will not tell him who wrote it. Check of course, if that would be an issue as it would in most families, but most of the time they won't say who contacted them.