Columnist Ruthe Deskin: Seniors not on cruise control

Ruthe Deskin

Thursday, July 31, 2003 | 8:23 a.m.

A lot can be said about the golden years.

But if you haven't been there, done that, there is just no way to describe the indignities of old age.

Now we are getting ready to pounce on people who drive well into their senior years. Every time an elderly driver is involved in a fatal accident society's protectors dig out statistics proving certain seniors shouldn't be driving.

It's time again for Big Brother to look out for all of us.

I feel completely at ease discussing this matter because I have voluntarily -- with a little nudge from my doctors -- given up driving.

I know my responses are slower. I can't see as well and my hearing has dulled. It would take an unusual situation for me to get behind the steering wheel and venture into Las Vegas traffic.

However, before we get revved up over the matter, consider all the ramifications. Certainly there are elderly persons who should not be driving on our public streets. The question is, how elderly and how incapacitated?

I know seniors who are excellent drivers and I know young adults and teenagers who need a continuing education in the art of navigated an automobile.

I recall a day, quite a few years back, when my sister and brother and I got together and decided Dad shouldn't be driving. He had cataracts, a crippled leg and other impediments.

We politely made the suggestion that he should retire his old Ford, which, after my mother, was the love of his life. What we got could be labeled road rage. No way was this going to happen. How dare we even think of it?

My brother had the answer: He would do a bit of tinkering with the old Ford so it wouldn't run.

However, one of the abilities of the males in my family is that they can fix almost anything. Dad had his Ford out on the street within a few hours of its forced retirement. We did finally convince him to leave the driving to someone else.

But today, according to recent studies of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, most older drivers voluntarily limit their driving.

A recent AARP bulletin reports that almost 4,000 drivers 50 and older who refer to themselves as "self-regulated" avoid freeways and bad weather.

Frankly, I believe most people in their 50s and 60s and even early 70s are perfectly capable of driving in traffic and on our superhighways.

Health is really more important than age. A comparatively young heart patient is a bad risk, as are those suffering from a debilitating disease.

I have never seen a truly definitive study of the characteristics of old drivers, nor do I believe an entire group of healthy citizens should be limited only because of age.

It is a given factor that the independence lost when driving is no longer a choice may hurry bouts of depression.

The National Institute on Aging states that 600,000 people age 60 or older outlive their ability to drive by about six to 10 years.

As our older population increases, communities must face the need for alternative transportation opportunities.

The problem today is everyone wants to live a long time, but nobody wants to grow old.