Senior Driver Safety
After she pondered the fact that she learned how to drive as a teenager, 72-year-old Marjorie Butler Norrie signed up for the AARP Driver Safety Program refresher course.
“We think that we’re driving like we used to drive, but [I learned] our reactions have slowed down so much, not realizing that we don’t react as well as we used to,” says Butler Norrie, who resides in Wenatchee, Wash.
In the class, Butler Norrie learned about senior driver safety and age-related changes that can affect her driving abilities. Perhaps these shifts are why she had already begun to limit her driving. She rarely travels on big city freeways, and she didn’t drive for a month last winter, saying snowy conditions kept her off the road.
This self-restriction and self-assessment are common and healthy practices for older drivers. Examining your own driving proficiency can keep you safe. After age 75, the risk of being in a collision increases for every mile a person drives, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Statistically, this age group falls just below teenagers for the number of fatal crashes. Although this ominous fact is linked to an older person’s ability to endure injury, older drivers—and their loved ones—need to pay attention to driving skills and make the appropriate adjustments, whether that means adapting their driving habits or hanging up their car keys for good.
This article continues at Senior Driver Safety and Elderly Resources.