Courses help older drivers keep keys
We’ve all been there: having to tell aged relatives that it’s time to stop driving. With me, it was my grandfather, who was getting the old Chevy out of the garage largely by feel. Its rear quarter panels looked like relief maps of the Himalayas. I think he was scaring himself, so he went along willingly.
Actually, some older drivers can probably prolong their time at the wheel with a refresher course offered by AARP for people 50 and older. (I know, the senior years skew younger every year.)
It turns out that a lot of the problem is turning – a third of all fatal accidents involving seniors take place at intersections, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Some 35 percent of all of their traffic violations occur because of failure to yield, and one in four are due to improper left turns. Neglecting to stop at a traffic signal is the other most common issue.
A study by AAA/Carnegie Mellon points out that accident fatality rates climb sharply after age 65. And, eek, look at this: For drivers 75 to 84, the rate of traffic deaths per 100 million miles driven is about the same as it is with teen drivers. For 85 and over, the death rate is four times that of teens. On AARP’s site, aarp.org, they list 10 telltale signs that an older driver in your family should probably surrender the keys.
But let’s point out also that many older drivers have a wealth of experience to draw upon, and a Ben-Gurion University study adds that seniors don’t lose their ability to perceive hazards ahead, and that they’re actually more sensitive to them than young drivers. And they adjust their mirrors!
By 2020, 38 million drivers will be older than 70. Every day, 10,000 people turn 65 – and most of them are still piloting a car. On the road today, 15 percent of all drivers have achieved senior status. For everyone’s sake, we need to keep these folks as sharp as possible.
According to Julie Lee, a vice president of AARP Driver Safety, “Many older drivers haven’t had any kind of refresher course since they took driver’s education when they were 16.”
Left turns are problematic, because they put older drivers into crowded situations where they have to navigate across traffic. AARP points out that three right turns will often put you in the same place. And it encourages annual checkups to measure stopping distances and reactions. “We use the three-second rule,” Lee said. “You have to leave enough space between you and the driver in front that you have time to react when something occurs.”
AARP claims that 97 percent of the older drivers who take its course change their behavior as a result of it. They might, for example, self-regulate and no longer drive at night – instead driving in the low-traffic window of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Or they might choose to let someone else drive.
The classes cost $15.95 for AARP members (and $19.95 for nonmembers), but may entitle graduates to an insurance discount. They’re offered all over North America (Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, too) and are taught by 4,500 volunteers in 18,000 host locations. You can locate a class, and also find driving simulators, games and even a guide to all the new-fangled technology on late-model cars, at www. aarpdriversafety.org.