(Revised July 2004)
Introduction
Feeling Safe and Secure Behind the Wheel
Trip Planning for Safer Driving
Purchasing the Right Vehicle for Safer Driving
Polishing up Your Driving Skills
Common Driving Problems for Mature Drivers
When Is It Time to Stop Driving?
To Sum Up
Whether you live, work, or are retired in a rural, suburban, or major metropolitan area, driving in California presents some very unique challenges. Congested freeways, urban sprawl, road construction, and driver inexperience make driving difficult and stressful for everyone. With baby boomers rapidly approaching retirement, the number of mature drivers on the road will increase dramatically in the coming years. This increase will bring its own set of challenges to the aging driving population.
The effects of aging are broad and varied among individuals; however, over time, you can expect sight, hearing, the ability to judge speed, depth perception, and reflexes to diminish. These abilities, which are often taken for granted on a daily basis, change gradually over time. It is sometimes difficult to notice these gradual changes and how they affect your ability to drive until you experience a close call or are involved in an accident.
Fortunately, it is possible to compensate for the effects of aging on your driving ability. Age is a risk that can be minimized by a mature driver through awareness of possible limitations and elimination of more risky driving practices. Physical conditioning, travel planning, vehicle choice, and defensive driving can all play an important role in minimizing risk and assisting the mature driver to feel safer when getting behind the wheel of an automobile.
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While it is necessary to deal with the range of possible limitations brought on by aging, it is important to remember that a mature driver has experience in his/her corner. Years of good driving experience can help you plan how to compensate for specific problems you may develop as you grow older. Also, years of good driving experience can add to your feeling of well-being behind the wheel, which contributes to your overall driving performance.
Regular doctor visits and preventive screenings for common illnesses become increasingly important as you start to age. If you are experiencing impaired vision or hearing, see your doctor as soon as possible. Special prescription glasses and hearing aids can often help compensate for age-related vision and hearing loss. Since good vision is especially crucial to the act of driving, screenings for cataracts, glaucoma, night blindness, and other vision problems should be scheduled regularly. Recognition and/or treatment of these conditions can be instrumental to safe driving and to your overall quality of life.
Be honest with yourself and with your doctor about any possible health-related limitations, which may interfere with safe driving. Besides impaired vision, hearing, and slower reaction times, other health factors such as ankle rigidity, wrist pain, general weakness, decreased range of motion, and general depression can hamper your ability to drive a car safely. Your doctor can suggest treatments for stiffness, fatigue, and depression. Often, a simple exercise program consisting of regular walking can help increase mobility, fight fatigue, and combat depression. A mild regular exercise program can strengthen your heart, lungs, and muscles while increasing your flexibility and range of motion.
If you are taking medication, make a point to ask your doctor or pharmacist how these drugs can affect your ability to drive. It is unwise to drive unless you have a clear understanding of possible drug interactions and their effect on you. Also, do not ignore any over-the-counter drugs or supplements you are taking. Even over-the-counter drugs or supplements can cause drowsiness, blur vision, slow reaction time, and impair mobility.
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Everyone can benefit from travel planning. Whether it is a short trip to the supermarket, a lunch date across town, or a weekend trip to visit relatives, planning is key to safer driving. Travel planning can assist you in minimizing risk by making simple adjustments to your driving habits. For the mature driver, a little foresight can add to your safety and pleasure in driving. The following planning tips can be used as a starting place to help you stay safer on the road:
- Avoid rush hour traffic if at all possible. This includes traveling during peak hours over major holidays. Why drive in heavy traffic if it is unnecessary?
- Time your driving for daylight hours only. Poor visibility and fatigue can play a major factor in accidents during the night and twilight hours, especially for mature drivers.
- Alter your travel plans during bad weather or when you experience any adverse driving conditions. It is better to arrive later than planned, or to reschedule your trip entirely, than to get into an accident.
- Choose routes that are well-marked and well-lighted. Make a note of landmarks and exits that can help you navigate. Also, plan your route to avoid as many left turns as possible. Going a few blocks out of your way to make a right turn instead of a left turn is a good safe driving strategy.
- Turn on your headlights and buckle up your seat belt every time you drive your car. Using your headlights in the daytime helps other drivers see you.
- Adjust your seat and mirrors for the best visibility. Make adjustments before you start driving or pull over to the side of the road to make needed adjustments when driving.
- Drive at the posted speed limit, unless weather, traffic, or other adverse driving conditions indicate otherwise. If you must drive more slowly, then stay in the right lane.
- Practice good defensive driving techniques and yield the right-of-way. Never insist on the right-of-way, even if you are correct.
- Stay in the appropriate lane. Do not weave back and forth between lanes, straddle two lanes, or change lanes near intersections.
- Plan on taking a break after driving every 90 minutes. Get out of your vehicle and stretch or take a walk. You can plan driving breaks around meal times as well.
- Don't take unnecessary trips. Map out your errands before you leave home. Cluster errands around one area only, if possible, so you can avoid driving back and forth across town.
- Park in lots or in spaces that have easy access and good visibility. It is better to walk a little farther than to have difficulty parking or backing up when you leave.
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At this point in your driving history, you probably know that the sportiest vehicle may not be the most practical in terms of your driving needs and safety concerns. Mature drivers need to purchase vehicles that offer options that can help offset any loss of mobility, flexibility, strength, or vision. The following options can help compensate and minimize risk:
- Power steering
- Power anti-lock brakes
- Automatic transmission
- Power adjustable seats
- Power windows, door locks, and adjustable side mirrors
- Tilt steering wheel and adjustable steering column (telescoping)
- Voice-activated controls
- Daytime running lights
- Untinted windshields
- Adaptive equipment (such as hand controls)
Upon purchasing your vehicle, you can greatly add to your safety by keeping your car well-maintained. Regular servicing, as recommended in the driver's manual, checking vital engine fluids, and keeping windshield wipers in good working order can help keep you out of dangerous situations on the road. Every now and then it is a good idea to check your headlights, taillights, and turn indicators, as these lights help you see and be seen by other drivers.
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Continued driver training is an excellent investment in your safety. No matter how much experience a mature driver has behind the wheel, a refresher course can reinforce good driving skills, teach new skills, and help eliminate bad habits. Updates on the latest defensive driving techniques for mature drivers can help you redirect your thinking about driving and develop strategies for staying safe behind the wheel as you age.
Investing your time and energy in a mature driver improvement course also has benefits with your auto insurance company. California Insurance Code (CIC) Section 11628.3 states that drivers 55 years of age and older, upon proof of completing a mature driver improvement course approved by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), are entitled to a discount on their auto insurance. For help in locating an approved mature driver improvement course near you, consult your local DMV office, check the DMV's Web site, or call the DMV's toll free consumer line (800) 777-0133.
Insurance companies recognize that mature drivers face unique challenges as they get older and reward those mature drivers who take the initiative to minimize risk by enrolling in approved driver training courses. The more you are aware of and compensate for any driving limitations, the greater your ability to stay safe, drive longer, and avoid accidents.
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In order to minimize driving risk, you need to be aware of the most common factors that cause accidents involving mature drivers. If you have trouble with any of the following, you need to reevaluate your driving habits to see if you can realistically compensate for these potentially dangerous risk factors:
- Failure to maintain proper speed
- Backing and parking your car
- Improper left turns
- Failure to yield right-of-way
- Confusion in heavy traffic
- Inattention
- Hesitation in responding to new traffic signs, signals, road markings or different traffic patterns and roadway designs
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Very few people have the desire to stop driving voluntarily. Since driving is often viewed as a symbol of freedom and independence, it is very difficult for some mature drivers to be objective about their driving skills. While the convenience of driving is hard to beat, confusing driving skills with your self-worth or independence is not realistic. In fact, it can be dangerous to you and to all the other drivers on the road.
If you are unsure about your driving performance, ask a trusted friend or family member to monitor your driving. If you have made adjustments in your driving habits, have utilized the techniques mentioned throughout this brochure, and are still having difficulty driving, then you may want to consider giving up driving altogether. The decision to stop driving is both personal and difficult, but in the end you want to make a responsible choice to protect yourself and others.
If you are struggling with the decision of whether or not to stop driving, then ask yourself the following questions that may help you evaluate your current driving situation:
- Have you suffered a stroke, heart attack, or experienced diminished eyesight in the past few months?
- Have you been cited for traffic violations or been involved in traffic accidents lately?
- Have you felt nervous or exhausted after routine driving?
- Have you experienced difficulty in basic driving skills such as parking, backing up, or signaling?
- Have you felt anxiety or panic in heavy traffic situations?
- Have you hesitated over right-of-way decisions that you have always taken for granted?
- Have you received negative feedback from other drivers?
- Have you been surprised or startled by the sudden appearance of another vehicle or a pedestrian?
- Have you become lost on familiar routes?
If you answered yes to some of these questions, then it may be time to stop driving. While driving may be liberating and fun, it can also be great to experience driving as a passenger without the worries and cares of driving. The ride is pretty good from the passenger seat!
Before giving up your license, you may want to consider contacting the DMV for a voluntary driver reexamination. The DMV can suggest options on how to keep your license on a restricted basis depending on your current driving performance. The proper restriction can help keep you driving while looking out for your safety and the safety of other drivers and pedestrians.
The following list contains some of the most common driving restrictions issued by the DMV:
- No freeway driving
- Driving only from sunrise to sunset (no night driving)
- Driving only in a particular area or by a specific route
- Driving only a vehicle with a knob attachment on the steering wheel
- Wearing a leg prosthesis when driving
Often it is possible for drivers to still drive safely within a clearly defined, but very restricted area. The DMV offers an Area Driving Performance Evaluation (ADPE) that is administered by taking a driving test in the vicinity of the driver's residence. This test can set restrictions for drivers to maintain safe driving in well-known places. A restriction of this nature can allow you to drive to such places as the grocery store, department store, doctor, bank, church, golf course, hair stylist or any other place within the restricted area that can be reached on surface roads only.
Also, friends, family, and neighbors who are concerned about unsafe driving practices of any driver can fill out a DMV Request for Driver Reexamination form. Immediate family members can make the request on an anonymous basis, and the DMV tries to honor confidentiality whenever possible.
Remember that after age 70 the DMV will not automatically renew your license by mail; however, this does not mean that you will necessarily have to take a written test or driving test to renew your license. Often you will only have to pass a standard eye exam. If you have been experiencing recent problems with driving, it is a good idea to discuss the issues candidly with the DMV. The DMV is aware of the issues facing mature drivers, and their goal is to keep all drivers licensed for as long as it is safe to do so.
Sometimes part of the difficulty in giving up driving is the notion that you will not be able to get around once you do. Depending on where you live, there are a variety of methods to get around when you no longer drive. For instance, you can catch a bus or other form of public transportation, take a taxi, ask a friend to drive, keep your car and pay someone to drive, or call Dial-A-Ride or other subsidized transportation programs for senior citizens.
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While safe driving is a challenge for all drivers, mature drivers need to particularly pay attention to any driving limitations brought on by aging. Identifying possible limitations and making adjustments to your driving habits can significantly minimize the risk of driving for mature drivers. Practicing good driving strategies combined with physical conditioning, travel planning, vehicle choice, and defensive driving can allow you to drive safer and enjoy driving for a longer period of time.
The California Department of Insurance (CDI) is dedicated to the issues facing mature drivers. The CDI also has a full range of auto insurance brochures as well as other brochures that specifically deal with senior insurance issues. If you are experiencing problems or have questions regarding auto insurance, then please contact the CDI by using the information located in the "Talk to Us" section of this brochure.
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