TIME GOES BY | Old People Driving - A Documentary

by Ronni Bennett

In a comment on a recent post here, Mage B who blogs at Postcards mentioned that her driver's license has been confiscated because she had lost consciousness.

It is one the greatest fears elders have – to give up driving, losing the freedom and convenience we have experienced all our lives and to become dependent on friends, relatives or public transportation (which isn't all that good in many places) for everything we need or want to do away from home.

A new documentary film titled, Old People Driving, sensitively explores the emotional and psychological aspects of giving up driving. The 35-year-old producer, Shaleece Haas, tells me that her goal is to dispel some of the myths about older drivers,

“but I didn't want to shy away from the fact that most people will outlive their ability to drive - usually by seven to 10 years - and that all of the alternatives to driving pale in comparison.”

According to Shaleece, there are three million drivers older than 85 in the U.S. and most people believe they are a menace on the road. However, Julio Lacayo, who is the older driver ombudsman for the California DMV, tells us in the film, it is a myth that old drivers are the worst drivers.

Although elder drivers have a 16 percent accident risk compared to other adult drivers, he explains in the film, those under age 25 have a 188 percent accident risk. And while teens most often kill others, old drivers are mostly a danger to themselves.

Shaleece's poignant film tells the stories of two elder drivers - Herbert Bauer, age 99 and her grandfather, Milton Cavalli, 96. Here are the three of them.



Milton has been a car buff all his life, starting with his first Model T when he was 14 years old. He still owns three of them and a Saxon too, which he drives with confidence. “Age has nothing to do with it,” says Milton, sounding like me on this blog when he explains how some people are old at 50 while others are still capable at 100.



Herbert, on the other hand, has been planning for what will be his last day behind the wheel of a car, intent on stopping driving “before someone invites me to change,” he says. When asked if he will miss his car, he says, “I plan to.”



Leading up to that final drive, Herbert visits a bicycle shop to try out an adult tricycle. He has broken his hip in the past and has trouble mounting the trike because the seat is too high for him. I was struck by the young sales girl who, standing nearby, is oblivious to Herbert's struggle.

But he doesn't give up and works out a deal with a friend who still drives to trade his car for her tricycle. Shaleece shows us that sometime later, it sits chained to the side of his house unused because, Herbert explains, his left leg has gotten worse.

On the fateful day of his last drive, Herb is careful not to break his perfect record of no accidents in 80 years of driving as he notes that his last left turn is coming up. It is a powerful moment when he removes the car key from his wallet to give to his friend who drives it away as Herb slowly walks into his house.

Nevertheless, Herbert says giving up driving is a triviality compared to giving up someone you've loved all your life, as he did when his wife died. Losing the freedom of a car is “nothing by comparison.”

Both of these men, the oldest of the old, accept the limitations of their age with astonishing equanimity and in Herbert's case, a humor that I hope I will develop should I live as long. “If you have to live by yourself,” says Herbert, “tell yourself you're in good company.”

Here is a short clip from the beginning of the 24-minute film:
You can find out more about Old People Driving here.

Shaleece Haas has made a remarkably beautiful film that everyone – old, young, caregivers - should see. It will premier on Sunday at the Mill Valley Film Festival, will be screened at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival on 16 and 19 October and will be shown too at the National Transportation Safety Board symposium on older drivers in Washington, D.C.

She hopes to it will be broadcast on television soon; DVD copies for personal use may be purchased online for $20.

Resources and Tools for Older Driver Safety and Transitioning

On April 11, Essie Wagner, older driver program analyst for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; Jacob Nelson, director of traffic safety policy & research at AAA; and Lisa Tucker, project coordinator/training & technical assistance specialist at NCST, joined together to present on Resources and Tools for Older Driver Safety and Transitioning. An MP3 podcast, transcript, and copy of the presentation are available at the NCST site. The presentation took place at the Lifesavers National Conference on Highway Safety Priorities, and it identifies new tools aimed at older drivers, their families, and health and medical professionals; a discussion of the effectiveness of the tools; and strategies for their use with older drivers.

Listen

Related articles by Zemanta

• Identifying Older Drivers at Risk of Crashes (nlm.nih.gov)

Family Value: When It's Too Expensive for Dad to Keep Driving - WSJ.com

Image via Wikipedia

Trying to persuade older family members to give up their car keys isn't just an emotionally fraught chore. Increasingly, it is a financial issue, too.

Cars can be expensive to maintain for an elderly person on a fixed income. The cost of auto-insurance claims in later life—even for fender benders and accidents without injuries—can quickly add up. Conversely, if an aging parent decides to move to a place where transportation is readily available, such as an assisted-living facility or continuing-care retirement community, housing costs could escalate.

If there is compelling evidence that parents shouldn't be on the road—because of failing eyesight or other physical limitations—then adult children shouldn't want them to drive. People who are 75 and older have higher crash rates per mile than all groups except 16- to 25-year-olds, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Many states require older drivers, starting in their 60s or 70s, to renew their licenses more frequently than younger drivers, to do so in person or to take additional vision tests. Still, health and driving skill can deteriorate between those renewal dates.

One possible solution: Take the cash that your relative would spend maintaining a car to get safer, reliable rides through taxi services or nonprofit groups. There are a growing number of alternative transportation options aimed at older adults who could continue to live independently if they could just find a good alternative to their own car.
Continue Reading

New Advice on Getting Dementia Patients off the Road - in Meeting Coverage from MedPage Today

By John Gever, Senior Editor, MedPage Today

A dementia rating test and assessments by caregivers can be very useful in identifying people with dementia who need to quit driving, researchers said here.

Patients' own confidence in their driving ability and their fearlessness behind the wheel? Not so useful.

Those were the main messages in new practice guidelines issued by the American Academy of Neurology at its annual meeting in Toronto.

Continue Reading

Related articles by Zemanta

• Some people can drive with mild dementia: guidelines (ctv.ca)
• New Guidelines For Drivers With Dementia (abcnews.go.com)
• Many Alzheimer patients safe to drive (healthzone.ca)
• Caregivers key in assessing drivers with dementia (cbc.ca)
• Diets may determine dementia risk (news.bbc.co.uk)

The Continuing Car Key Debate - The New Old Age Blog - NYTimes.com

By PAULA SPAN

We will probably have debates about older drivers for as long as we use cars.

We know, from reams of research findings but also from our own conversations, how important a driver’s license is to older adults. It represents dignity and independence; it encourages social connections. Relinquishing it can bring on isolation, depression and perhaps even premature institutionalization.

Yet we also know that with physical or cognitive decline, some older drivers should simply no longer be on the road, endangering themselves and others.

Only about half the states have adopted any age-related provisions for license renewals, like shorter renewal periods, in-person renewal requirements or vision tests. In fact, some advocacy groups argue against restrictions based on age, promoting instead policies intended to weed out unsafe drivers of all ages.

As the back-and-forth continues, it is useful to look at an analysis recently published in The Gerontologist of years of crash data for drivers 66 and older in British Columbia.
Continue Reading

Health Business Blog » Putting the brakes on the Boston Globe’s demonization of older drivers

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

by David E. Williams of the Health business blog

In Newspaper nonsense on elderly drivers I berated the Boston Globe for its weird fixation on elderly drivers as doers of evil who need to be clamped down on. Since then, the Globe has continued this odd focus, most recently with an October 4 editorial calling for older drivers to undergo mandatory road tests to keep their licenses.

The Globe’s attention would be more understandable if elderly drivers were in fact a menace, but the facts are as follows:
Continue Reading

Daily Number: Drivers Wanted - Pew Research Center

According to a separate survey, being able to drive is strongly associated with not growing old. Two-thirds of the public say a person is old when he or she can no longer drive, more than say turning age 75 or forgetting family names are signs of old age. While there is disagreement among age groups about what marks old age, there is agreement across all generations that not driving is a sure sign of being old. Though, while almost half of those under the age of 65 believe that when they finally do reach old age they'll lose their keys -- and freedom -- only 14% of respondents over 65 say they don't drive. Read More

National Center on Senior Transportation: Concerns about Unsafe Driving Webinar

Join the American Society on Aging and the National Center on Senior Transportation for a free one-hour web seminar on August 27, 1:00 PM Eastern time. Concerned family members turn to you for advice about an older driver, or an older adult in your facility appears inattentive to other cars in the parking lot. How do you handle the conversation? This web seminar will assist you in speaking confidently about driving safety and interacting with family members in an informative and productive way. Featured staff from the National Center on Senior Transportation, Lisa Tucker and Mary Brugger Murphy and transportation consultant, Fran Carlin Rogers will pool their years of expertise in older driver resources and direct services to older drivers to bring you the information you need for older driver and family member discussions. To access this free seminar (no prior registration is needed). Just visit www.login.iCohere.com/ASA?pnum=SXG15922 for your visual presentation and call (402) 237-2015 and enter Caller Access Code: 566483# for your audio. Please note that this is not a toll-free number. Read More

Health Business Blog » Blog Archive » Newspaper nonsense on elderly drivers

by David E. Williams of the Health business blog Last month the Boston Globe published a poorly reasoned article Older drivers bridle at blanket criticism, calling elderly drivers a menace based on flimsy evidence. In How to mislead with statistics I laid out the real story; I also sent a note to the Globe reporter and told him he could do a better job. Earlier this week the Globe published a better article (Elderly drivers in fewer accidents than others) citing better sources, including the ones I suggested. Health Business Blog » Blog Archive »Read More

TIME GOES BY | Elder Driver Testing

Drivers age 65 and older have been increasingly maligned for poor driving. A couple of weeks ago, columnist Ellen Goodman ticked off recent auto accidents involving elders in an essay about dependence: “...here in Massachusetts we've had five serious car accidents involving elders in the past month. An 86-year-old struck an elderly man in a crosswalk. A 93-year-old drove through the window of a Wal-Mart, injuring six people. An 89-year-old killed a 4-year-old.” Sounds awful, doesn't it? Those old drivers are a menace and now Massachusetts is considering regular testing of all drivers 85 and older. That's not a bad idea, if you ignore the implied ageism which makes it sound like elders are the only people who cause auto accidents. Here are the facts according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety: * In 2007, 41,059 people died in fatal auto crashes in the U.S. * In 2007, 5,932 people 65 and older were involved in fatal crashes * In 2007, 11,890 people up to age 25 were involved in fatal crashes However, the number of fatal crashes per 100,000 people increases dramatically beginning at age 70-74, as this graph shows, although it does not reach the number of teenage fatal crashes: (Go to full post to see graph 2007_olderpeople_2crashpercapita) I have no data, but my general impression is that news stories about auto accidents involving elder drivers has jumped dramatically in the past few years while there is hardly any mention of teen and young adult accidents. This is important when considering measures, such as regular testing, to help curb auto accidents. According to the same Insurance Institute for Highway Safety noted above, as quoted in the Washington Post: “Teenagers are four times as likely as older drivers to be involved in a crash and three times as likely to die in one...” Young drivers involved in crashes are more likely to be impaired by alcohol too. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration [pdf]: “Of all adult drivers, older drivers involves in fatal crashes had the lowest proportion of total drivers with blood alcohol concentration of .08 grams per deciliter or higher.” (.08g/dL is the level at which a person is considered alcohol-impaired.) None of these facts absolves anyone of bad driving behavior and what statistics clearly show is that the youngest and oldest drivers are the most dangerous to themselves and everyone else. Full Post: TIME GOES BY | Elder Driver Testing

American Automobile Association Foundation releases new study: Medical Fitness to Drive and a Voluntary Reporting Law

A Missouri state law designed to help families, doctors and law enforcement officials prevent unsafe motorists from continuing to drive is working effectively and should serve as a model for the nation, according to a comprehensive study released today by both American Automobile Association (AAA) Missouri and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The law ensures licensing decisions are based on a person’s functional performance and medical fitness to drive safely – not their chronological age; although the study found that the average age of reported drivers was 80 years old. “This law should be adopted nationwide because it serves as a critical safety net to identify and remove medically unfit drivers from the roads. Most seniors drive responsibly and do an excellent job of self-regulating - limiting their exposure to high-risk situations, ultimately choosing to retire from driving. Some, however, continue to drive even though they have become functionally unfit to drive, and for these individuals reporting may be necessary,” said Peter Kissinger, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety President and CEO. Missouri’s voluntary reporting law allows concerned family members, police officers, physicians, license office staff and others to report potentially at-risk drivers for re-evaluation and possible license revocation if they are found to be medically unfit to drive. In part, the law is in response to the efforts of the Suroff family of St. Louis, who lost their 21-year-old son, Jason, to a 92 year-old wrong-way driver with dementia. Missouri is one of 44 states to allow voluntary reporting (six states have mandatory laws). “Missouri’s HB-1536 serves as a critical safety net for the identification and evaluation of medically-at-risk drivers who remain behind the wheel despite tangible functional and safety concerns. The identity of the reporter is kept confidential and the law also protects physicians and other professionals from legal action due to breach of patient confidentiality. Our data show that HB-1536 is effective, but under-utilized. More stakeholders need to know about it and how to use it for maximal effectiveness,” said Thomas M. Meuser, Ph.D., lead researcher with the University of Missouri – St. Louis. The findings from the evaluation of Missouri’s voluntary reporting law further reinforce the AAA Foundation’s consensus-based national license policy recommendations set forth earlier this year. The recommendations came out of a conference that brought together top transportation and health experts from federal and state governments, the insurance industry, medical professions, universities and advocates for the elderly: Increase educational efforts: Many stakeholders in driver safety are unaware of reporting mechanisms and how to identify medically-at-risk drivers. Consistent education and training is needed for clinicians, licensing personnel and law enforcement to teach them about existing laws, regulations and proper procedures for reporting medically or functionally unfit drivers in their states. Promote civil immunity: As is done in Missouri, all states should enact laws that provide civil immunity for clinicians, law enforcement, licensing personnel, and others who report in good faith people they believe to be medically unfit to drive. Amplify the role of license office staff: Data suggest that trained license office staff can and do play a significant role in proactively identifying at-risk drivers during their interactions at the time of driver’s license and auto plate renewal. There is also a need to increase the number of qualified people nationwide who can provide comprehensive driver testing and rehabilitation services. Establish and fund active Medical Advisory Boards (MABs): MABs should be in place to conduct individual case reviews and provide input on policy development. Fourteen states lack any type of MAB, and most states that already have them should enhance them by providing greater incentives for physician participation. Promote mobility options for unlicensed drivers: Voluntary reporting procedures are an important component of the mobility continuum – not simply engines for de-licensing. Most individuals who can no longer safely drive choose to retire from driving without ever being reported. Some, however, drive past the point of safety and for these drivers, reporting may be necessary. Whether an unfit driver is reported or not, state driver licensing agencies are in a good position to support on-going mobility by referring individuals and families to alternative transportation resources in their communities. The AAA Foundation provides evidence-based information and guidance on how to remain mobile after individuals give up the keys. “The currently available mobility options are not sufficient to meet today’s demand for them, let alone the forecasted demand taking into account the burgeoning number of older Americans,” said Kissinger. “Those deemed medically unfit to drive need to have mobility options, so they can maintain an active lifestyle.” The Missouri law does not specify age as a criterion for reporting. For instance, a 20-year-old with psychosis may be prevented from driving as could a 90-year-old with macular degeneration causing near blindness. Among older reported drivers, cognitive impairment due to dementia (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease) or other causes was the most prevalent medical condition, listed in records for half of the sample. Persons with dementia lose self-awareness over time and are at risk for continuing to drive when no longer reasonably capable of doing so. “Missouri’s voluntary reporting law emphasizes medical-functional status over chronological age, encourages Medical Advisory Board assistance, and provides important confidentiality and legal immunity protection,” said Kissinger. Researchers found that most reported drivers voluntarily gave up their licenses or opted not to follow through with the appeal process, which involves submitting a physician’s statement within 30 days. Based on the health status of the reported driver and physician recommendations, state licensing officials can implement immediate license revocation or require on-road testing to certify ongoing fitness to drive. At the completion of the study, only 144 of 4,100 (3.5 percent) of reported drivers retained valid licenses. While crashes and other on-road incidents were important factors in these drivers (one third were involved in crashes within 0-6 months prior to being reported), subsequent crash data indicate that these individuals likely ceased to be active drivers. Police officers were the most likely group to report a driver under this law, followed by license office staff. Together, these reports accounted for over half of all reports coming into the Missouri Department of Revenue in 2001-2005. Police-initiated reports were made typically in response to a crash or other on-road incident, indicating that public safety was already compromised. Relatively fewer reports were received from physicians and family members, those often in the best position to identify early warning signs of a driver fitness problem. This study concludes that enhanced reporting by non-police stakeholders could enhance public safety in the future. Procedural and educational initiatives to encourage reporting by physicians, family members, and healthcare professionals are crucial to recognizing at-risk drivers before a crash occurs. Full Report Fact Sheet PowerPoint Presentation

Safety for Older Adults—In and Out of the Car

Are you interested in Older Driver Safety? Do you need another reason to focus on keeping older drivers safely behind the wheel as long as possible? US researchers traveling to Japan and Australia to conduct a technology scan were told repeatedly that the risk of injury and death for older road users is much greater as a pedestrian than it is as the operator or passenger of a vehicle. They then explored a range of options that could improve driver safety as well as pedestrian safety—for example, creating separate lanes for cars, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Their findings are summarized in an article in the August 19, 2008 Transportation Research Board e-newsletter, found at http:www.trb.org/news/newsletter.asp?296. Click on “Older Road Users: The International Technology Scanning Program Summary Report” under Federal Research News. Planning, engineering, and design innovations are presented in the report, along with the conclusion that policies and programs that benefit older adults may have begun as improvements for users of all ages and that, conversely, improvements specifically for this age group were actually helpful for users of all ages. Hence, the universal value of infrastructure and policy changes that make roads safer for older pedestrians and drivers.

A Multidomain Approach for Predicting Older Driver Safety Under In-Traffic Road Conditions

From Journal of the American Geriatrics Society A combination of three tests from the vision, cognitive, and motor domains, including motion sensitivity, color choice reaction time, postural sway on a compliant foam rubber surface, and a self-reported measure of driving exposure, was able to classify participants into safe and unsafe driver groups with sensitivity of 91% and specificity of 70%. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2008;56(6):986-993

n4a Offers Resources on Older Driver Safety

Two publications developed through the n4a Older Driver Safety Project last year and distributed in print form are now available electronically on n4a’s new website. Visit the new n4a site and proceed to Resources and Publications and check out:

1. Older Driver Safety Project—A Community-Based Approach to Promoting Older Driver Safety and
2. Older Driver Safety Project—For Caregivers Who Are Concerned about the Safety of an Older Driver—Help is at Hand.

Questions? Contact Mary Brugger Murphy at n4a, mbruggermurphy@n4a.org. If you would like to receive a hard copy of either booklet by mail, please send Mary a request by e-mail, with your postal address.

State Teams Selected for NHTSA Older Driver Safety Project

The National Center for Senior Transportation (NCST) selected six state teams to participate in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)/Federal Transit Administration (FTA) project to establish and implement statewide older driver safety plans. The teams are from:

• Florida,
• Georgia,
• Minnesota,
• Nebraska,
• North Carolina, and
• Tennessee.

The states will each receive $5,000 to assist in plan implementation, and two states will be awarded an additional $6,000 each to further their efforts.

Each team consists of state government agencies and organizations that represent aging; driver licensing; law enforcement; highway safety; public health; and the state’s department of transportation, both roadways and transit. The goal of such a coalition is to produce a comprehensive and unified approach to senior transportation. The teams will gather in Dallas, Texas on September 16 and 17, and each team will work collaboratively to develop an action plan for their state to improve older driver safety and connections with alternative forms of transportation. While much of the meeting time will be spent in plan development, participants will be given the opportunity to dialogue with team members from other states in order to share information and promising practices in improving the transportation mobility of older adults.

Futuristic windshield aims to help older drivers

General Motors Corp. researchers are working on a windshield that combines lasers, infrared sensors and a camera to take what's happening on the road and enhance it, so aging drivers with vision problems are able to see a little more clearly.

Fourth Annual “Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report™” Reveals Cities with Safest Drivers; Offers New Data on Gender and Generation

For the past four years, Allstate actuaries have conducted an in-depth analysis of company claim data to determine the likelihood drivers in America’s 200 largest cities will experience a vehicle collision compared to the national average. Allstate’s auto policies represent about 12 percent of all U.S. auto policies, making this report a realistic snapshot of what’s happening on America’s roadways. This year’s report also includes data on male vs. female drivers, and compares drivers in different generations: pre-baby boomer, baby boomers, generation X and generation Y.

As the Roads Turn Gray, Ways to Make Driving Safer

Motoring As the Roads Turn Gray, Ways to Make Driving Safer By TANYA MOHN Published: June 22, 2008 Experts are studying how cars and drivers will need to adapt as the number of older drivers grows.

As the Roads Turn Gray, Ways to Make Driving Safer

IT’S called the gray tsunami, the great wave of aging baby boomers nearing retirement, making older adults the fastest growing segment of the population. And by 2030, the roads will be full of them. At the AgeLab at M.I.T. in Cambridge, Mass., for example, there are at least 20 aging studies looking at such factors as driver fatigue, the impact of technology inside the vehicle and how emotions and medications affect driving. States are also redesigning intersections to make them less confusing for older drivers. And organizations like AAA and AARP are advising older drivers about how to measure their abilities and are evaluating their cars to determine what adjustments need to be made to counter a driver’s physical limitations. -New York Times