Epic accident today - Senior content

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: Vuflanovsky
The amazing thing is that there are people in their 90s who are sharp, have quick reflexes, and don't drive much differently than when they were 50 years old. At 85 years old, my dad could drive in a congested urban area and parallel park his car at the equivalent of what must've been 10-15 mph to secure the space. It looked like something out of Starsky and Hutch just with grey hair and wrinkles....


My grandmother did a HPDE for her 85th birthday, and went skeet shooting for her 90th.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

I think that there should be increased testing for elderly drivers, and families need to be prepared to make difficult choices for elderly family members.

When my mother began deteriorating a couple years ago we quickly removed her license and car keys. She swore up and down that she was capable of driving, but it was clear that her cognitive functions had diminished to the point that it was no longer safe. Besides, my father was (and still is) fully capable of driving safely, so there wasn't a transportation issue for my mother. It was a tough choice, but one that we had to make for her despite her objections.

 

[Fordtrucktexan]

Reminds me of my own grandmother who passed away in 96' at 84. A few months before she passed, I noticed her driving, which was normally very good, had taken a serious nosedive. She had a very bad accident where she pulled out in the highway from her house directly in front of a Toyota 4-runner, who hit the back of her Chevy S10 hard enough to shear the entire wheel assembly from the axle. She walked away with minor bruises and kept her license after paying the ticket.

I'd ride with her to the store in her last few months and she'd pull out in front of other drivers multiple times a day - thankfully they all saw her and avoided impact. Being a kid and not really knowing what she was going through, I'd try to talk to her at intersections and help her see oncoming cars, but she got pretty frustrated with me. I get it now though.

Like most seniors, she said she'd never give up driving and would do so until the day she died.