Older Drivers

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Elderly drivers may be the butt of jokes and a source of anxiety to their children, but new research shows that the very act of driving on that short trip to the grocery store may help keep them out of a nursing home. A study by scientists at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine suggests that senior citizens who continue driving are less likely to enter nursing homes or assisted-living centers than others their age who have stopped driving -- or who never drove at all. On the other hand, a study by a University of Virginia researcher indicates that as they get older, seniors are more at risk for fatalities in accidents than all but the very youngest drivers -- which poses a safety challenge as baby boomers age. The Hopkins study showed that nondrivers were four times as likely to enter long-term care as drivers; and those without drivers in the house were twice as likely to wind up in long-term care as those in households with drivers.

More than 18.5 million people age 70 or older are licensed to drive in this country. It's a fast-growing population, and that has raised legitimate safety concerns about the effects of aging on driver safety - although, it should also be noted, older drivers are still less likely to be involved in fatal accidents than drivers age 25 or younger. But what happens to an older person who stops driving? New research suggests the consequences can be serious. In a recently published study, researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine found that seniors who no longer drive (or never did)

ON FEB. 24, I supported the passage of Senate Bill No. 233 in my column. This legislation would prohibit new teen-age drivers from having passengers other than siblings in the car for the first six months of their licenses. Daniel D. Hetlage thinks that this legislation (and my support of it) is misguided. "Anytime a child is injured or killed, we owe it to ourselves to look for the root cause and make changes that will prevent further loss of life. That is what good people and good parents do," he said.

WASHINGTON - Drivers over 65 are nearly twice as likely to be killed in a serious automobile crash as those ages 55 to 64, according to a study released yesterday. The study of nearly 4 million motor vehicle accident reports in Texas over 25 years from 1975 to 1999 found that the older a driver, the more likely that driver is to be killed in an accident where at least one person was injured. The study noted that older drivers tend to be more frail and might die from injuries that would not be fatal to younger drivers.

NO LIGHT (or former light) generates as many complaints and questions in my inbox as the signal at U.S. 29 and Rivers Edge Road. Don Oliver recently e-mailed to ask about the status of the light, especially with respect to the state's plan to remove signaled intersections along the highway. "Why does this particular neighborhood get a traffic light on a major roadway where all other lights have been removed and where all other communities have been told that they should ride the ramps?"

Many Americans are outliving their ability to drive, a new study has found, leaving them dependent on others to provide rides for several years. "Hundreds of thousands of older people quit driving each year and must turn to alternative transportation," said Dan Foley, a biostatistician at the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda and lead author of the study. "I don't think sufficient attention has been paid to the transition from driver to non-driver in the aging population." Nearly 10 percent of the nation's drivers today are older than 65. The aging of the baby boomers and an increase in the number of female drivers is expected to yield a growing population of older Americans living longer than they hold a driver's license.

As the weather warms and days get longer, millions of senior citizens take to the road to vacation and visit family. But before they hit the road, experts say, they should have their vision checked, because changes in aging eyes require extra attention. Compared with their counterparts from previous generations, today's elderly are healthier, more active and more likely to hold a driver's license longer. But as people age, sight, hearing, reflexes and ability to judge speed and distance diminish.

Of all the insults of growing older, losing one's driving privileges can be one of the most difficult to bear. A new driver's license is a symbolic rite of passage from youth into adulthood, but giving up the car keys as physical and mental faculties diminish is a passage of another sort. "Driving is the ultimate symbol of independence and self-reliance," said Gloria E. Gesas, a clinical social worker with Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles. Older adults often feel that their life is essentially over without a car, she said.