A driver’s license is an official document stating that a person may operate a motorized vehicle on a public roadway. The first license was issued when requested by inventor Karl Benz in 1888, due to citizen complaints about the noise and smells from his Motorwagen. Authorities were concerned only with his mechanical ability.
The earliest driver’s licenses required no examinations of driving skills. A large number of countries have no national identification cards, and use the driver’s license as a standard form of identification. Some drivers, still on the roads today, simply paid a small fee of 25¢ to 50¢ for their mail-order license to drive. New Jersey became the first state in the US to require all drivers to pass a mandatory examination before receiving a license. A no-examinations license was available in Belgium until 1977.
As vehicle fatalities increased, driver’s skills became a concern. In 1910, the German Imperial government established a system of required education and tests of a driver’s abilities. It became the model for licensing laws world-wide.
It is not always an inability to demonstrate good driving skills that signal the need to take away the keys. Seven or eight decades of practice will enable a driver to stay in the proper lane. Driving skills vary widely at all ages. There are checklists on safe elderly driving. No one skill, taken separately, is automatically relevant. It is the coordination of many skills that is required for continued safe driving.
Physical and Mental Indicators of a Driving Problem:
- Filtering noise and Distractions. A driver’s ability to navigate a familiar route while carrying on an animated conversation with passengers demonstrates their parallel processing ability. This split-level mental workload can reduce as much as 30%, a driver’s capacity to detect visual targets, discriminate among them, and select an appropriate response. (Science Daily)
- Divided attention and Attention switching. Is it the driver’s reduced ability or unclear traffic signs? Driving is a dynamic task, requiring processing constant changes (signs, signals, pavement markings, road curvature, position and distance of other vehicles) as one proceeds along his path. A driver can pay attention to only one visual information source at a time, and then must integrate the various information inputs to maintain a broad awareness of the changing environment.
- Reasoning and Decision-making. The ability to identify rules and make inferences, choosing rapidly and correctly a response to an unexpected event. Can he re-orient himself to a new route when there is a detour? A decision to continue through a bad section of town, past a traffic barrier, or into isolated back roads may subject the elderly driver to non-traffic dangers.
- Medications (prescription and over-the-counter). Do his medications affect his skills and decision-making processes? Drug side effects can yield bizarre effects on skills or reasoning.
- Alcohol or Illegal Drugs. Elderly drivers do drink and do drugs, occasionally. Their independence also allows for the opportunity to imbibe as they wish. Consider the possibility of them ‘Driving Under the Influence’.
- Medical conditions. Can affect vision, cognition, and motor function. Physical abilities include strength, range of motion of the extremities, and head/neck mobility. There are after-market vehicle accessories that can assist them. Have their vision checked for night-blindness.
- Emotional States. Agitation and irritation influence perception and information processing. Aggressive or overly cautious driving for the traffic flow forces other drivers to change their methods. Depending on other drivers to catch on to a traffic change is risky.
- Ability to maintain or sustain attention. Fatigue will affect vigilance, so ask about sleeping habits.
- Long-term Memory. Is more than just remembering the meaning of symbols and signals used for controlling traffic. In the stress of an accident, will he be able to identify himself, offer a telephone number or an address for a family, or be able to make medical decisions? You want to be able to be contacted when he needs help.
There is no formal system established to determine when to quit driving. Often, an aged driver will commit an unsafe action within sight of a traffic officer and be unable to demonstrate the necessary skills to drive again. If not so fortunate, he may die in a fiery accident. The elderly driver will not often give up his lifetime’s right gently.
You have a few options:
- Ask them to stop driving. Involve their doctor or the Department of Motor Vehicles to add more power to the request.
- Render the vehicle unworkable. Disable it by leaving the lights on to drain the battery, or disconnect it completely. But they can call for road service to get their car working again.
- Hide, or take the keys. Watch that they have no spare keys or can hot-wire a car. Senior citizens are resourceful.
- Sell the vehicle. It would only depreciate further. Taxes, license plates and insurance would no longer continue. Storage and vandalism concerns would cease to exist. The lure to drive would be missing.
The decision is a timely choice between keeping their respected elders independent versus safe. It will be difficult to end their freedom to travel, and they may be angry. There is no easy way to take away the keys, so know that you have made the best decision possible and plow ahead. This may be a personal accomplishment appreciated by only you.
Alan Simpson - Work History: Insurance agent for 30 years, Movie Background Actor for 13 years, Insurance Adjustor for 2 years, Army Helicopter pilot, ...
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