Over the next decade, senior drivers in America will top 40 million, up 63 percent from 2005, according to the American Automobile Association. At the same time, technology and disability services continue to raise expectations among baby boomers to remain independent. For many, this means keeping their driver's license and adapting to compensate for diminished vision, reflexes, and skills.
Statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show that fatal crash rates for drivers age 75 and over are higher than for any other age group except teenagers.
Statistics suggest that a rapidly aging nation puts all drivers at risk, which is why new programs are emerging to provide specialized training for the growing demographic of senior drivers.
New Hampshire (with over 2,000 drivers age 90 and above) has three such programs, including DriveAbility, a service of Exeter Healthcare, which is an affiliate of Exeter Hospital. In this interview, program director Amanda Plourde, a driving rehabilitation specialist and occupational therapist, discusses how her instruction keeps seniors (and everyone else) safe behind the wheel.
DriveAbility Offers Specialized Training for Senior Drivers
Q. Will age make America’s highways less safe?
A.P. We'll probably see more collisions: older drivers tend not to check their mirrors; don't handle left turns well or check blind spots; and they don't back up at all.
Q. How does DrvieAbility help?
A.P. I help seniors assess and regain skills and develop strategies to maintain confidence behind the wheel. Training varies based on a client's needs, but might include refreshers in defensive driving skills and application of traffic knowledge and, in some cases, lessons in night driving. I also teach drivers with special needs, e.g. visually impaired persons who use bioptic (telescopic) lenses.
Q. How does DriveAbility work?
A.P. I evaluate each client to spot deficiencies and determine if and how a person can be retrained. For example, a stroke victim who has field cuts (blank areas or quadrants in the visual field) must find ways to compensate for this type of vision loss: they have to learn how to re-scan and develop new awareness. In addition, knowing the rules of the road is crucial as New Hampshire is one of only two states (along with Illinois) that mandate road re-tests for drivers at age 75.
Planning Retirement From Driving is a Key Safety Strategy
Q. Are there ways seniors can assess their own fitness to drive?
A.P. Yes. There are products such as Roadwise Review from AAA, a DVD self-test you take at home with a partner that assesses physical and mental driving elements and can raise red flags of increased risk.
Q. What strategies can older drivers use to continue driving?
A.P. It helps if people plan for driving retirement the same way they do for retirement from work. Many people drive less at night and stick to familiar roads. The right car (one with bigger gauges and consoles that are easier to see and read) can also help. Onboard navigation and GPS systems can eliminate road map and street sign searches.
Q. Does advanced age improve any aspect of driving?
A.P. Sure: older drivers tend to drive more slowly, which makes them less apt to get into trouble and they bring lots of wisdom from experience when they take to the road.
Plourde sees no magic age when people should stop driving. “Driving fitness isn't measured by age, but by one’s abilities,” Plourde said. DriveAbility’s aim is to enhance those abilities.
Andrew Leibs - Andrew Leibs is Suite101’s Feature Writer for Accessible Recreation. He is a longtime chronicler of the disability movement with ...
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