Driving , it's serious

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dancsfo

It's scary. While a PWD should have not been driving in the first place, until that can be agreed upon with your LO, perhaps some kind of protocol (I'll hang on to the keys and you tell me when you want to drive and I can accompany you) or maybe some location tracking device would have helped. But I think these PWD in the news article were way past the stage when license should have been taken away. I really don't understand why there are no national standards for elderly driving and testing. I was not even aware of "silver alerts". I guess compared to kidnapping alerts, you likely know which car (license, make, model) needs to be located, so it may be easier for the highway patrol. But you have the additional danger of the car getting into accidents.

I have seen people who ought not to be driving. Their cars are being dented in their own driveway, and are otherwise a hazard to many people. But people around often do not take the action to do something about it. Maybe the feeling that driving is a "right" is too strongly engrained.

Some info:

https://exchange.aaa.com/safety/senior-driver-safety-mobility/

Phoenix1966

https://people.com/florida-couple-married-found-dead-crashed-car-7964791?

Although it is not clear who was driving.

GothicGremlin

That is scary. Gilroy and Ventura are in opposite directions and not at all close to each other.

@dancsfo I've had those same thoughts. I went through it when I had to take the keys away from my dad. Man, was that tough. In his younger days, one of his side gigs was being a driver training instructor. But at 90 he was a hazard on the road. I eventually came up with a fiblet (I didn't know the term back then, and he didn't have dementia) that allowed him to save face.

Maybe it's not so much a "driving is a right", as it is an autonomy issue. And/or, maybe it's a large state v smaller state issue? I know my s.o. didn't know how to drive when I first met him (he was 23). I was astounded. I had my driver's license as soon as I was old enough to get it. But I'm from California where driving is often a necessity, and he's from a small north eastern state where he was always able to take public transportation.

dancsfo

@GothicGremlin You got it right -- it's an autonomy issue -- and freedom.

One of the hopes of self-driving (autonomous) cars developed by GM/Cruise or Waymo (you see them tested in cities like San Francisco) was to allow the elderly to make visits on their own.

But for "robot-taxes" that assumes the ability to operate a smart phone to summon a car properly in the first place. If someone needs to do that for you, you can say a regular taxi is sufficient (assuming there's a way to pay - but there are payment accounts you can tell the driver at pickup) However, taxis are not always available in non-urban areas or are not plentiful when you need it. It's not easy.

I guess in the future, you can make your own personal car autonomous. But it will be expensive in the beginning. When it works, it may be a good thing. But not sure for all PWD. What if you tell it to take you someplace you don't intend to go to? I guess with computerized cars, you'll be able to locate where it is, or maybe the summon it back home.

I agree that some New York City residents, for example, never learned to, or need to drive.

harshedbuzz

Ugh. Driving.

Both my parents had to give up driving. We were fortunate that dad's neurologist told him he could no longer drive but he carried on about it until the day he died. Literally. They very last exchange I had with the man not 6 hours before he took his last breath was to assure him that I would drop his red Taurus off in the MCF's employee parking lot in case he needed to go somewhere.

For him, it was more than independence and autonomy-- it was proof of his masculinity.

He'd had a DUI years before, so he almost never drove if someone else could because he feared jailtime. I truly can't recall the last time I was a passenger in his car so I had no idea how badly he functioned behind the wheel.

That said, weeks before he got a diagnosis he made the drive from his place in FL to MD with my mom. After several hours on the road, they stopped for lunch and fuel in SC. Mom fell asleep and was surprised to wake up in Georgia. He had no business driving and she knew it but didn't want to deal with the constant fallout.

HB

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