The number of senior drivers is expected to soar by 70 percent in the next 20 years but many adults are reluctant to talk to their aging parents about their driving abilities.
They would prefer to discuss and plan their parent’s funeral rather than question whether their mother or father should still get behind the wheel, according to a new released survey.
“As the number of seniors on the road increases, so does their exposure to fatal accidents, so we really need to deal with some of the issues seniors are facing on the road in terms of impaired eye sight and mobility,” said John Kennedy, executive director of National Safety Council (NSC) Defensive Driving Programs, which commissioned the study.
Approximately 40 percent of 1,011 adults with an elderly parent questioned in the survey by the NSC and the Web site Caring.com said they feel uncomfortable talking to their parents about their safety behind the wheel.
“Adult children are just ill-equipped to deal with this conversation because it means coming to grips with their parents’ mortality,” said Andy Cohen, the CEO of Caring.com, which provides information about caring for aging parents. “Taking away driving abilities is a symbolic step towards end-of-life, and it also marks the beginning of the adult child stepping into a caretaker role,” he said.
Yet more than a third of the people said there should be restrictions on their parents’ driving, including limits on night driving and long distances.
But taking away seniors’ driving privileges has broader implications. “When you take a person’s car away, you’re doing more than just affecting their mobility, you’re affecting their independence,” said Dr. Elizabeth Dugan, a geriatric expert at the University of Massachusetts.
“We’ve never before had people live this long and be able to drive, and so this concern about aging drivers really marks a demographic shift”
Source: NEW YORK (Reuters Life!)
