You are driving down a major 4-lane road in your city when suddenly a late 80’s Oldsmobile cuts in front of you, just in the nick of time you to slam on your brakes avoiding a collision.
Meanwhile as you catch your breath wondering if you should give them the bird, you notice mysteriously there seems to be no driver in this car. All you can see are two hands on the steering wheel and tuft of white hair above the driver’s seat.
It’s not Halloween… you are thinking? Then the light bulb comes on. Oh, (As you smack your forehead.) it is Grandpa making a trip to the supermarket. In the back of my mind all I keep thinking is that is going to be in 50 years…. ugh.
We have all been through it. Seniors who can barely see, hear, or position themselves above the dashboard driving down the road. And this can be down right hazardous.
Researching, I found some useful information and a helpful tool on carjunky.com to help seniors determine if they are still safe to drive down the road.
Hope this helps with your senior…..
“In a recent AAA survey of more than 1,000 seniors, nearly 90 percent said they drive themselves to get around on a daily basis. And next to financial security and the cost of health care, seniors are most concerned about their ability to get around in the future.
This concern, and the apprehension many families share over whether older loved ones should drive, has prompted AAA to make efforts to help seniors improve driver safety.
The automobile association has developed “Roadwise Review: A Tool to Help Seniors Drive Safely Longer,” a computer-based screening tool that enables older drivers to test their cognitive, physical and visual abilities in the privacy of their own homes.
The tool helps identify physiological changes that could affect driving and problem areas correlated with crash risk. For instance, it tests flexibility, the ability to see in low light and to scan across a field of view, all functional abilities critical for safe driving. “Roadwise Review” also offers practical suggestions for improvement.
The measures in AAA Roadwise Review were scientifically validated in a study of crash risk in nearly 1,000 seniors.”
For more information, contact your local AAA club or visit www.aaa.com/publicaffairs.
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