Columnist Susan Snyder: No easy answers for older drivers

Friday, July 25, 2003 | 8:50 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4082.

Should drivers older than age 70 be tested more often? Should they drive at all?

The questions are about as popular as a traffic jam. But they arose almost immediately in the wake of recent fatal crashes involving older drivers.

An 86-year-old motorist killed 10 people July 16 when he rammed into a California farmer's market. And in Las Vegas on Saturday a 79-year-old driver pulling out of a Strip casino parking lot caused a four-car crash that killed one woman, police said.

It is easy for those of us years away from senior discounts to make sweeping declarations about removing driving privileges for those we consider "old."

But we should be careful of what we wish for, said Claudia Collins, an associate professor who specializes in aging issues at the University of Nevada Reno's Cooperative Extension office in Las Vegas.

"Once you take somebody's transportation away, you've made a major change in their life. And most of the time, it's very negative," she said. "You place them in a dependency situation."

Dependent on relatives, friends and public transportation systems we typically consider (and fund) only for people too young, too old or too poor to drive.

However, in a National Highway Transportation Safety Administration study conducted by Northeastern University, drivers 58 to 76 years old had more trouble controlling lane positions while deciphering dashboard or road sign information than drivers 23 to 46 years old. Older drivers also took longer to assimilate the information.

Statistically, older drivers cause no more crashes than teens. But teens can potentially improve through experience and maturity. Adults gradually lose abilities. And drivers of all ages have weaknesses, cause crashes and go years between driving tests.

"Maybe they should re-test everybody," Collins said.

(The collective groan you just heard is courtesy of the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.)

Seriously, Collins said, older drivers self-regulate better than many may think.

"They know they're hanging on to a privilege," she said. "They're really afraid of being in an accident because they don't want to lose their cars. They have a lot to lose."

Aging is a gradual process. It seems we ought to have something between doing nothing and taking away the keys.

Collins points to AARP's driver safety program that helps motorists 50 and older recognize weaknesses and compensate for them. The eight-hour class is taught over two days.

Log onto aarp.org/55alive for information. Take the quick, 10-question "Close Call Quiz" and see whether your skills might be faltering. Read over some of the common problems and possible solutions.

If your reaction time seems slower, increase your following distance, AARP suggests. If seeing at night is difficult, drive only in daylight. Making improper left turns is the second-biggest problem among older drivers, AARP say. So avoid them by making three right turns instead.

"If you told me right now I would never drive again," Collins said, "I don't know what I'd do."

Maybe we can ask good questions. What will we do? How many independent trips to the grocery store will our retirement plans provide?