When Should Seniors Hang Up the Driving Gloves?

Who should decide when it's time for a senior to quit driving? We recently heard about the Japanese government bribing its seniors to get them off the roads. Should the U.S. force its elders from the road, too?

It's a question that Dennis P. McCarthy, co-director of the National Older Driver Research & Training Center at the University of Florida, hears all the time.

"It's a tough decision since we all age at a different rate, so you can't identify an unsafe driver based on age and have to look at how people function on an individual basis," he said. "In California, the Department of Motor Vehicles has a pilot program going to train its workers to identify potential problems when people come in (for driver's license renewals) with functional difficulties, such as using a mobility device, or have trouble with their visual testing."

Public perception is that if you take away a senior's license, he or she will simply take the bus.

"But if the senior has leg problems that make it difficult to use car pedals, how will they climb bus stairs?" McCarthy said. "And if they have vision problems, how can they see the bus schedule? Seniors have to see doctors, get medicine and buy groceries, and if they have no public transportation or can't use it, they are forced to keep driving."

To enable seniors to drive safer longer, the National Older Driver's Center, in cooperation with the American Automobile Association, has compiled a list {link here: aaa.com/news} of cars with equipment and features needed for seniors with vision and mobility problems to continue driving safely.

"The solution isn't to get older people off the road, but to get them on the road by providing alternative transportation through local transit services for people with physical problems and community volunteer networks to take seniors where they need to go," McCarthy said.   
But, again, the question is who decides when it's time for a senior to stop driving.

"The family has to ask if they'd let their parents drive their kids and grandkids anywhere,” McCarthy said. “If the answer is no, then they need for the parent or parents to see an occupational therapist.” McCarthy is an occupational therapist who works to rehabilitate drivers with problems. The American Occupational Therapy Association keeps a listing of its members by area.   

"Three things can happen from the visit,” he said. “The therapist may say the person actually is fine and can continue to drive, or he might find a problem that can be fixed just by adding equipment to the car to prolong safe driving, or he can decide the driver needs to be taken off the road. Then the therapist is the bad guy, not the family, for taking the keys away. The population is growing older. This problem isn't going to go away."

Comments

[David]

Drivers over 70 should have to retake a driving(not written) test with the DMV every 7 years to determine their driving ability. This should be done at no cost to the driver. I would be willing to pay a little more taxes to make our roads safer and to know that when my driving skills deminish someone will take my license.

[Trainer]

It's a sad day when you have to take the keys away from a guy who fought in World War Two, was his own boss throughout his career and who smoked unfiltered cigarettes until he was 80. It wasn't easy for our family but had to be done.

[intensive driving]

I think we need to remember that many seniors rely on their car - take it way from them and you limit their ability to socialise and live the life they are entitled to.
As for making the roads safer by taking them off the road - I don't believe it's a valid argument.
As a fit and able driver you have to drive with an understanding that roads are inhabited by young, old, clever and stupid.

[Andrew]

Seniors should not go from being able to drive anywhere and any time to cannot drive at all in one step.

Possible restrictions could be daytime driving only; non-urban areas only; or non-rush hour times.

[Jim]

I love these kinds of articles. Generally written by city-dwellers who assume there's a bus waiting on every corner for their convenience and taxi service when the bus isn't convenient enough. Hello? Not everyone lives in Manhattan. Didn't you get the memo?

@David: the problem is that this test is highly subjective and is usually administered by kids who have less years on them than the wallet in the driver's pocket. To whit, my Mom hates to back up and parks only where she can pull out. Otherwise she's a fine driver. But she wouldn't pass this test, eh?

@Trainer: I am surprised it was a problem. My Dad, also a veteran, took himself off the road when he felt he was no longer safe to ride with. These guys had a lot more respect for life, having witnessed first-hand those who do/did not, than 90% of the young fools on the road these days.

Speaking of which, I don't know how it is in the big city but here in the boonies, we have a lot more problems with kids having accidents while texting, drinking, and not paying attention to the road in general, than with any elderly drivers.

Want to make cars safer?

Build in a shield so the cell phones and other various gadgets cannot send/receive while on the road. If your business is that important, get a chauffeur. If not, you don't need to be that connected anyhow. Get a life.

Build cars that can tell if you are drunk and refuse to start. Don't whine about what if the bad man is chasing me. Don't go there at night and you won't have to worry about it, eh!

Make AND/OR enforce laws that hold parents responsible when they allow their underage spawn to drink and then drive. Include law enforcement parents as well. That's an eye-opener, eh? Maybe Dad having to walk to work and back a few times will "drive home" the message. And community service in a local trauma center will do that stupid kid a world of good too. Maybe he'll get to watch one of his friends get pronounced. That might stick in his mind until next quarter, eh?

Morbid? Yeah. Serious? Even more so.

Sorry. Off-topic now.

[Matt]

I must preface my comments by saying that I am a young driver. While I appreciate the comments made about how we are always the individuals that cause accidents, I think that there are a couple of logical problems at work in the above poster's comments. First, I think that young drivers largely experience problems because of inexperience. In that sense, getting young drivers off the road is impractical because they need to drive in order to gain the experience of a more mature driver. The other thing that I take issue with is the above poster's willingness to allow people who are not safe to drive because kids cause more problems. I'm an avid cyclist, and there are occasionally aggressive drivers who put me in a spot of trouble. However, I am much more frequently scared by people who aren't aware of my presence or are unsure of my capabilities (turning in front of me when I'm going 25 because they assume that a bike can't travel that quickly).
I think that there are also several fundamental problems with the solutions posted by Jim. The cell phone solution is particularly impractical. First, I know of zero states where it is illegal to talk on a cell phone in a car. It may be illegal to talk while driving, but I know that I frequently enjoy the quiet of my car when making a call home before I leave some location. I know that many people also rely on their passenger to make calls for navigation purposes or to notify someone that they are coming late. Aside from the legal perspective, it brings up a slew of technical problems as well. I am reasonably sure that cell phone signal can pass through windows, and I cannot think of any transparent materials that would adequately block the signal. The only other option is some sort of jamming device. Such a device would be very difficult to focus only on the inside of the car, and I am unwilling to tolerate losing cell phone signal every time a car drives past if I am a pedestrian on the sidewalk.
As for the idea of implementing a breathalyzer on every car, there are several problems with this situation. The first is the cost associated with such a thing. The second issue is the inconvenience of having to submit to testing every time the car is started. And the last is the possibility of false positives drawing from the use of mouthwash or other products that could leave the operator of the vehicle unable to drive anywhere.
While I think that technology can be a boon, applying it to every problem the world faces is not a cost-effective solution. If the roads are to be made safer, it will require tougher policies, but policies that focus on the offenders, not on those tangentially related to the situation.

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