Senior News January, 2004 Vol. 25. No. 1

 

Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.

New Alzheimer's program lands on all four feet

New Medicare changes: how will they affect you?

Driving and getting older-challenge increases with age

Riding high: woman and steed flow together

Service with a smile-Volunteers make a difference in our community

Role of volunteers will grow under new police chief

No Podunk in McKinleyville

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Driving and Getting Older - Challenge Increases With Age
by Ruth Mountaingrove

The current CSAA VIA magazine has a discussion by the CSAA president about 80-year-olds driving long distances, in this case his father driving from New England to Florida. The CEO questioned the wisdom of this arduous trip.         

The October Costco magazine asks the question: should elderly drivers be tested more stringently? The July-August AARP Bulletin titles their article: MIT Study: Older Drivers Slow Down.       

My friend tells me that in Europe you cannot drive a car after you are 75. On the other hand, they have excellent transportation systems. And we all read about that unfortunate 86-year-old man who killed 10 people at the farmers' market in Santa Monica.   

According to a CNN story, again in Santa Monica, motorist Bryan Cox killed a 16-year-old girl. Cox, 96, apparently had not taken a road test since he got his license in 1918.   

In The American Woman, Road and Travel is a thinly veiled article about getting your aged parents off the road and deals in detail with the problems of not being able to drive. The author, in her 50s, calls it the wrath of old age. She recommends a family council, with all members agreeing to take parents to medical appointments, stores, the barber, the dry cleaners and maybe a little socializing. At the same time she admits her father, who has lung cancer, just sits around, now that he can't drive, watching TV and looking forward to his chemotherapy so he can get out of the house.     

In a recent study by California Department of Motor Vehicles, "People 65 and older make up 12 percent of California's licensed drivers. They are involved in 17 percent of fatal crashes and cause 60 percent of those." It would be helpful if other age groups were included for comparison.   

A bill to require continuing driving tests for older California residents narrowly passed the state senate and is now before the state assembly. It requires California drivers age 75 and older to pass a written and road test when their licenses come up for renewal. These tests would be required more frequently as the drivers get older, until at age 90, they would need to renew every year. State Senator Tom Hayden wrote this measure.     

Some groups feel that Hayden's bill is an example of age discrimination. "It isn't just older people who can be poor drivers. Eighteen, 21- and 35-year-olds can also be, depending on the circumstances," said Lois Wellington, president of the Congress of California Seniors. She does not object to getting dangerous drivers off the road but feels that targeting a particular age group is objectionable.        With Baby Boomers on their way to age 60, the next 20 years will see them in their 80s. Public transportation needs to be planned for people no longer driving so that they will live a relatively independent life.     

I live in Arcata. Buses runs 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the hour except Saturdays, when they run every two hours, and Sundays when there is no service. The buses are old and uncomfortable.    While no longer working nine to five, a lot of us are RSVP volunteers and need transportation to get to our stations. There are no adequate bus connections between my home and the Ink People in Eureka where I have kept the community darkroom running since 1992. I live three miles from the Co-op, a mile from Humboldt State University and the radio station where I am also a volunteer producer.       

I live alone. and it is not easy to stop driving. Personally I'm not sure I want to drive again, but the prospects of not driving are grim. Cars are a symbol of independence in this country, and we have all been brought up to be independent.

Ruth Mountaingrove's e-mail is ruth3@humboldt1.com.              

An Ad Hoc Transportation Committee has been formed by the Area Agency Advisory Council. The group plans to hold Bus Days at different senior centers in April and May to acquaint seniors with the use of buses. For information contact 707-442-3763.