Safe Driving for Older Adults
A question that I commonly encounter both in my office practice and in the nursing home has to do with the safety of a parent or other older adult as a driver. Rather than the result of some considered review of the overall health and well-being of the person in question, this instead presents as an emergent and sometimes clandestine request such as, “What can I do to keep my dad from driving?”
This is a dilemma that will increasingly challenge us as the population of America continues to age. Consider:
By the year 2020, more than 15% of older drivers will be over the age of 65.
Drivers age 75 and older have the second highest accident rate of all drivers in the US, exceeded only by those under the age of 25.
…show more content…
The presence of dementia, some forms of depression, Parkinsonism, stroke, hearing loss, arthritis, diabetes, and all types of visual impairment can make good driving more difficult to accomplish. Medications, both by prescription and over-the-counter, can impair driving skills. Antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, sleeping pills and antihistamines are just a few of the drugs that can measurably affect concentration and wakefulness. Alcohol use remains an important risk factor for motor vehicle crashes and its use in older adults is probably …show more content…
If it is apparent that the older individual is an unsafe driver, ask them to surrender the car keys while making alternate plans for transportation. This surrender could be temporary if restorative steps can be taken such as physical therapy, re-fitting of glasses, and medication adjustments. If the individual is deemed safe for the highways, encourage them to drive only during daylight hours, to avoid adverse weather conditions, to drive during off peak times, to avoid congested thoroughfares, and to follow rehearsed routes to and from key
There are approximately 5,400 deaths per year that are linked to distracted driving, and thousands more were injured. (U.S. Department of Labor). Those fatalities are our neighbors, close friends, and even family. How can we prevent this from being so prominent? How can we make the roads a safe place to be again? These questions have many different answers, but many prove to be un-effective. I believe that the best and only way to resolve this issue is to implement tougher laws on cell-phone use in vehicles, and educate our youth to the best of our abilities on the dangers of distracted driving.
Most if not all teens look forward to several events in their life. One of those events are getting a driver's license. This small piece of plastic is their ticket to freedom. This ticket is more than just freedom to be able to drive their friends around but also freedom from the ritual of their parents having to drive them everywhere and embarrass them in public. Also this is a freedom to the parents as well they may save more on gas from not having to drive their children around. However, some teens are not as safe as they possibly could be if they were to take a few steps to promote good driving habits. This is evident in the article “Teen Driving”, as the author gives the reader teen driving statistics, as well as explanations of programs and steps that can improve teen driving.
It is dangerous because the elderly drive reckless and when they drive reckless they crash. For example according to the article “Older Adult Drivers” in 2010, there were about 5,149,000 crashes accounted for. If the elderly stopped driving that number would go down by a lot. Another example explaining why the elderly should retake their test is because of the deaths. For Instance According to the article “Older adult drivers” there is an average of 15 older adult deaths by car crash a day. Another example from the article “older adult drivers” is in 2012 more than 5,560 elderly people died in a car crash. My last example for why car crashes are dangerous is the injuries. The elderly are injuring themselves by driving. For example according to the Article “Older Adult Drivers” There are more than 214,000 deaths among the elderly because of their driving, And that's not including the injuries the elderly because among other people when they hit them. In addition there are about 586 injuries among the elderly due to car crashes. So there for elderly drivers are too dangerous. On the side of the elderly, they have the most experience driving so they might crash
Motor vehicles accidents are the leading cause of deaths for teenagers in the United States. According to Vivian Hamilton, “Car crashes kill more teens each year than any other cause” (1). In 2010, seven teenagers from ages 16 to 19 died every day from motor vehicle crashes. In 2011, approximately 1972 young drivers, ages 15 to 20, were killed in motor vehicle crashes (Facts About Teen Drivers”). The age of which a person can drive legally varies from country to county. In the United State, individuals are allow to take a driving test before their legal voting age which is eighteen or legal ...
Drivers do not fall asleep without warning. If a driver consciously decides to drive without the ability to remain alert they are putting themselves and others at risk in the same way that those who text and drive or drink and drive do, with the consequences just as devastating. Therefore, it should be treated the same by
There are various types of behaviors that slow with age. Behaviors such as reaction time and constant bodily movements which are consequently the most vital things for a driver to contain. Bodily movements change naturally the older one gets, therefore it becomes more of a struggle for an older person to do the compulsory movements required as a driver (For example; steering, manually driving a car, braking quickly, etc.) The older the driver is, the more attention
Drinking and driving is a big issue throughout the world causing many accidents. Intoxicated drivers go behind the wheel all the time causing harm to not just themselves but to innocent people on the roads. The question is to stay sober or to find a designated driver. People need to understand how important it is to not drink and drive. There are many things that could occur due to drinking and driving. Individuals can cause accidents and many face legal repercussions. These legal repercussions can even affect your life later on, if not right away.
When a person dies in an accident or become disable because of an accident, it is not only a single life will be effected by a preventive accident, it is about the emotional connection to those life of so many life who will be suffering because of the devastating accident. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “In 2013, 2,163 teens in the United States ages 16–19 were killed and 243,243 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes.1 That means that six teens ages 16–19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries”(CDC). Today alarming numbers of teens are dying not because of drugs, not even from drinking and driving, but because of the accident which could have prevented. Today smartphone is gaining popularity on all ages, particularly among the teenagers, and these smartphone also fueled teens who were already engaging on phone while driving. Report published from American Psychological Association that, parents are having a direct role on distracting their kids while they were driving. Forty three percent of teens said that they talk to their parent while driving and another twenty six percent of teen text. ( in need intext citation )If we have so many data and research that are saying loud about the fatality number on distraction teens while driving, why parents are forcing their kids to die. According to the National Highway Traffic Administrations year 2011 report, teenager from age fifteen to nineteen years make ten percent of all drivers who involve in a fetal crash who were distracted while operation moto vehicle; most of them were using a cell phone (NHTSA 2015), we have to acknowledge the risk of our decision and that five seconds of time spending off of road to read a massage will cost a life and
Driving is something people do everyday. Although many people do it well, some do not, that being said the legal age to drive should be raised to twenty one years of age. The driving age should be raised because teens at the ages of fourteen through twenty should not be behind the wheel for the simple fact that they are just too young and too inexperienced to drive, also someone of that age can get more distracted than a person who is twenty-one or older and has had some time to mature and become responsible enough to operate a motor vehicle. “In the United States, 16–19-year-olds have the highest incidence of motor vehicle deaths among licensed drivers and motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 15–20-year-olds.” (Haggerty
At the age of 18 teenagers will already be traveling to colleges and moving to dorms and they will have other things on their mind than their very important driving
Although studies by Dr.Masten and his colleagues show, “75 percent of the fatal crashes we thought we were saving actually just occurred two years later,” (paragraph 4). This was stated when the minimum driving age was sixteen and this effected the number if fatal crashes in eighteen-year olds. Dr. Masten suspects that teenagers are waiting to get their license and skipping the restrictions, (paragraph 7).
Teenagers are getting back on the roads and behind the wheel meaning the is a higher risk of accidents. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in 15-to 20-year olds. Automakers are creating ways to make their automobiles safer in order to reduce these deaths. Teenage drivers are inexperienced and need the extra protection to keep them safe if an incident was to occur. Automobile safety features are necessary for the teenage driver to stay protected and alert.
There is a massive amount of car accidents that occur every day, that consequently become fatal. In many cases, the driver and the passengers do not have on a seat belt to prevent them from being thrown out of the car or colliding with another car, causing them to be thrown against the dashboard or some other tragic accident. Some people may think, “Wearing a seatbelt isn’t cool”, “I’m only going down the street” or sometimes just irresponsibly forget to put on their seatbelt when they are inside of a vehicle. You may think that wearing a seatbelt is not trendy and you are only making a quick trip going down the street to the corner store, however, you cannot control others actions on the road anything can happen in the blink of an eye.
Sixteen year olds have a higher crash rate than drivers of any other age. “ in 2011, teenagers accounted for 10 percent of motor vehicle crash deaths” (Teen Driving Statistics). For this purpose, Many states have begun to raise the age limit by imposing restrictions on sixteen years old drivers. For example, limiting the number of passengers they can carry while driving. “The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released a report in May 2012 that showed that the risk of 16- or 17-year old drivers being killed in a crash increases with each additional teenage passenger in the vehicle. The risk increases 44 percent with one passenger; it doubles with two passengers, and quadruples with three or more passengers. The study analyzed crash data and the number of miles driven by 16- and 17-year olds” (Teen Driving Statistics). Another example, is that many people believe that teenage drivers have a race boy/girl mentality. This mean that when any teenager gets into a vehicle of any kind they get some type of thrilled or that the driving laws do not accommodate them in any way, shape, or form. They would go drag race ...
The main reason the driving age should be raised, it will be a decrease in car accidents for 16-18 year-olds. Driving is one of the most dangerous things people do on a day to day basis. Teenagers are at a high risk of being in an accident than an older driver. A study show of car crashes during the past two years found a high proportion of newly licensed drivers have serious accidents. Drivers 16-18 are commonly known for speeding, fatigue, alcohol and not wearing seat belts lead to car crashes. More than 5,000 U.S. teens die each year in car crashes. The rate of crashes, fatal and nonfatal, per mile driven for 16-year-old drivers is almost 10 times the rate for drivers ages 30 to 59, according to the National Highway Safety Administration.(.2...)