Trying To Beat The Odds
I decided to take the AARP Safe Driving Course after a friend told me how much he learned from it. It’s widely available in group settings, but I took it online, in sections, over several days.
That seniors sometimes have driving issues is a standing joke. Once, when I was eight, I went for a short trip with a grandfather. I laughed as I described the experience to my dad. He cringed. Then there is the hilarious opening scene in Driving Miss Daisy where she missed the brake pedal, hit the gas, and the car ended up in the bushes.
But it’s no laughing matter. The death rate for drivers 75-84 equals that of inexperienced teens. Above 85, four times as many elderly as teens die in accidents. By 2030, when all baby boomers will be over 65, it’s estimated that seniors’ driving will be responsible for 1 in 4 traffic deaths.
Alcohol and speed are factors in younger drivers’ deaths. Seniors are more likely to have accidents from failing to yield the right-of-way, or at intersections from driving through stop signs or stoplights. At 93 my father quit driving after his good retirement-home friends died from being broadsided while running a stoplight.
Before taking the course, I thought about my recent driving experiences. I can’t easily turn my head and look over my shoulder to gauge traffic before entering roads. I’ve been honked at a couple of times for misjudging oncoming traffic’s speed. And on entering a street or round-about I’ve not accelerated fast enough to smoothly merge with traffic.
I avoid turning left at major two-lane intersections, unless there is a stoplight with a green arrow. I notice that a single beer or glass of wine interferes with my reaction time.
The AARP course’s eight-hour format, without the possibility of short cuts or fast forwarding, kept my attention from beginning to end. It focused on the complexity of safe driving. For instance, I was surprised to learn there are 32 opportunities for accidents at intersections where two lanes of two-way traffic cross.
I hadn’t considered how normal effects of aging on thought processes, arthritis and muscle stiffness, diminished strength, flexibility and coordination combine with cataracts or other vision and hearing losses to decrease the ability to anticipate and react to driving situations.
I was particularly interested to learn again that not feeling up to par from a cold, loss of sleep or fatigue, anger, fear and anxiety reduce the ability to maintain focus and increase the risks of accidents. One important tip I got was, if you don’t feel like driving. Make other arrangements.
The course detailed how the effects of alcohol on the elderly brain and reflexes are prolonged. It explained how over-the-counter and prescription antihistamines and sleep aids, pain relievers, antidepressants, anti-anxiety meds and blood pressure drugs have unpredictable and generally greater and longer-lasting effects on the elderly.
The course described how technology makes driving safer. Our new car has a camera that, when backing up, shows obstructions behind the car on a dashboard screen. The side-view mirrors show a yellow triangle when a car or other object is next to us. A beep sounds if the turn signal is engaged or if I start to change lanes.
I can’t beat the odds of death, disability and suffering because of my age in an accident caused by someone else. But by being a safer driver I’m trying to reduce the chance of killing, maiming or producing pain and suffering in someone else from age-impaired driving.
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