A Place for Mom's Family

My Grandpa lived alone, after Grandma died. He was very independent, always had been. We had warning signs that he should not be driving, but it is not easy to take away someone's driver's license, who has been driving all of his life! One day he ended up driving the wrong way on an entrance ramp to the freeway. He was going head on into traffic exiting from a freeway! We were extremely lucky that no one was hurt! This could have been catastrophic! We should not have waited as long as we did to get his driver's license taken away. It is not an easy thing to do, but get help any way you can before someone is seriously injured or killed!

I have a family that I am helping now whose Mom drove out to the movies and ended up in the woods where she was found by ATV drivers.  The police said if she wasn't found by them, she'd probably still be in the woods. We did have a senior that was found dead in her care in the woods (she died from not being able to find her way back and there was no foul play).

The family of the woman above who is still driving is not accepting that Mom needs help more than just during the day (they hired an 11-4 companion.  The daughter doesn't want Mom "locked up" and the son is not dealing with it.  I just pray that families would realize when their parents need to stop driving before they end up dead in the woods or killing some innocent person on the road.  I pray we can help those who come to us for help.

The elderly driving is especially alarming - many seniors learned to drive on rural back roads which no longer exist.  Your postings reminded me of my uncle who passed away a few years ago.  He still drove his old red "rusty" pick-up that was about 30 years old.  He was "legally" blind.  I asked my aunt once why they did not take away his keys.  Her reply was "it would kill HIM not to drive - besides everyone knows his truck and pulls to the side of the road when they see him coming".  I tried to explain the dangers and liability..but she would not budge.  I think about that story often when talking with families trying to take the keys away.