Senior drivers need to know…
Looking after our family is an ongoing task throughout our lives. As a child our parents looked after us, we looked after our brothers and sisters and eventually for a lot of us we end up looking after our own kids. But at some point, it all turns around and we begin to look after our parents, but slightly different from how they cared for us. This can become difficult for some of us, especially as they change their driving habits. As family members, do we have the responsibility to inform our aging parents about their poor driving skills and if we do, can we handle it with dignity and care?
I was recently on a local TV talk show discussing senior drivers. There’s a police force targeting senior drivers and asking local residents to make an anonymous phone call if they see a senior driver driving erratically. The police force is trying to make the roads safer and I commend them for that. The unfortunate thing is their attention is only on senior drivers. http://natpo.st/13gjX8Z Don’t you think it would benefit the community if every driver was on their radar?
In most cases, a senior driver isn’t doing their driving errors on purpose; they may have lost some of their ability to respond or react in a way that allows them to maintain complete control of their vehicle. Regardless, if you can’t control your vehicle, you will either need to get some help to allow you to do that, or stop driving. The same can be said with all drivers, but the focus for this community is on senior drivers.
One of the toughest emotional things to do is to inform your family member that their driving isn’t good enough to keep driving like they’re doing. The medical profession also has the responsibility to have a license revoked, but in a lot of cases, they just ask the senior to take it easy. Hurting someone’s feelings by telling them they shouldn’t drive any longer or hurting someone physically because of a collision; which is worse?
A friend of mine had that tough task of telling his mom her driving was dangerous to her and other road users. He did the right thing and sent her for lessons from a professional at Young Drivers of Canada and that instructor did his best and eventually she decided that driving wasn’t for her any longer. Having a driver’s license has been a big part of most senior drivers for many years. Losing their license is almost like losing part of them. However, if a senior family member is about to turn in their license, offer positive results to their license and vehicle being removed.
First, they can still go where they want, when they want through the help of public transit, taxi’s or even friends or family offering to take them places. The savings of vehicle insurance, regular maintenance and fuel will be a lot more to them than the cost of taxi’s and public transit. When my grandfather gave up his driver’s license, he adapted to this new lifestyle and embraced it. It became less of a financial burden and expense for him. I know it will take some time for some seniors to get used to this lifestyle, but in the end, it’s a good plan for everyone involved.
Scott:
I can’t agree with you more! EVERY driver who operates an automobile erratically should be on the police’s radar.
Profiling is distasteful on many levels, but it tells you a lot about a society that has gotten to the point where profiling now focuses on people who merely reach an arbitrary birth date or who show a little white in their hair.
It is NUTS for a police force to allow the bias of “ageism” to guide their traffic policies. Whether you are a new teen driver, an experienced young mom chauffering kids to school, a middle aged commuter going to work each morning or an elderly driver doing errands, functional ability should be the determining factor for maintaining one’s privilege to drive, not arbitrary age limits.
A some what peeved senior driver,
Dan
Thank you Dan for your thoughts. I also agree with you.