Take
steps now to help you stay on the road late in life
by Liz Seegert |February 6, 2019
You remember how hard
it was when it was time to take the car keys away from Dad.
Here’s an even
tougher question: How far away are you from the same fate?
You could be closer
than you think.
As you age, your
vision and hearing decline, your reflexes become a tad slower, and maintaining
flexibility takes more effort. Night driving becomes harder, your peripheral
vision isn’t as wide, and glare from oncoming headlights can be blinding,
according to the National Institute on Aging.
Some of these changes
can start as early as your 40s. During your 50s and 60s, they can happen so
gradually that you’re often unaware they’re happening. But they can snowball.
By the time you reach
age 70, crash rates
start creeping up, according to the Insurance institute for Highway
Safety.
Being more aware of
these issues now means you can start compensating for them sooner, and stay
safer on the road longer.
Your eyes go first
Deteriorating
eyesight is among the first noticeable changes. It actually starts in your 40s,
and by the time you hit your 50s you struggle to see people, things, and
movement outside your direct line of sight, according to the American Optometric Association. It also takes longer to
read street or traffic signs, or even recognize familiar landmarks.
By the time you turn
60, your pupils are about a third of the size they were when you were 20.
“It got to the point
where my husband wouldn’t get in the car with me at night,” says Adrienne Wald,
63, professor of nursing at the College of New Rochelle. She lives in New
Paltz, N.Y., where many roads are poorly lit, if at all.
“I thought I was
fine,” she says. “It’s amazing I didn’t drive off the road.”
You try to deny the
obvious, Wald says. It took a couple of bad falls while jogging for her to
concede that her vision was deteriorating. An eye exam revealed bad cataracts
in both eyes. Wald calls the subsequent surgery miraculous.
“I was blown away,”
she says of the resulting improvement in vision and night driving capability.
”It’s mind boggling. Really dramatic.”
By the time you turn
60, your pupils are about a third of the size they were when you were 20. They
react more slowly in response to darkness or bright light. The lens is
yellower, less flexible, and slightly cloudy.
Your eye muscles are
less able to fully rotate, which affects peripheral vision, according to the National Library of Medicine.
And, visual acuity—focusing on objects, especially up close—also declines with
age.
Driving at night
The need for more
light and better contrast as you age means night driving becomes a significant
challenge for many drivers. That’s exacerbated if it’s also raining, says Jodi
Olshevski, a gerontologist and head of The Hartford Center for Mature Market Excellence.
Advances in the
development of headlights and smart headlights are beneficial, she says. There
are various iterations of the technology but generally, smart
headlights adapt to road conditions, automatically shifting to high beams as
needed or swiveling to follow road curves.
“That is something
accessible to drivers if they’re getting a new car; it’s something I’d
definitely suggest drivers check out and be aware of as something that could
help.”
But it’s not just
vision problems that affect driving. Sometimes, changes are more subtle.
Mute the multitasking
Studies show
your reaction time, strength, coordination, and concentration gradually
diminish with age. Stamina may decrease and you may find you tire more easily on a long
drive, or in conditions which require extra concentration, like heavy traffic
or bad weather.
Multitasking—even just changing the radio station—also becomes
harder.
As you start noticing
these changes, it’s particularly important to be really focused on the road and
concentrate on what you’re doing, says Olshevski.
Mary Ellen Walsh, 53,
from Syosset, N.Y., couldn’t agree more. “I make sure I have everything set
before I go to minimize distractions,” she says.
As a mother of three
and an academic tutor, she drives frequently, in all kinds of weather, like it
or not.
“I set my GPS, have
my water bottle, I’m hypervigilant and can’t be spur of the moment,” she says.
“I need to know exactly where I’m going and plan ahead.”
Exercise to drive
longer
Flexibility and
range of motion, attributes you need to safely change lanes, back
up, and get in and out of the car, also start becoming issues as you get older.
After flexibility
exercises, most people reported greater ease in turning their heads to see
blind spots when changing lanes or backing up.
Improving your range
of motion can be as a simple as a 15- to 20-minute series of daily exercises,
says Olshevski.
Her group did a study with the MIT Age Lab on exercise for older drivers,
including those in the 60-74 age group. Participants did a range of motion and
flexibility exercises—back stretches and heel drops, chest and shoulder
expansion, and shoulder stretches, every day for 8 to 10 weeks.
Most participants
reported greater ease in turning their heads to see blind spots when changing
lanes or backing up. They were also able to rotate their bodies further to scan
the driving environment while making right-hand turns.
And an unexpected
benefit was being able to get into their cars more quickly. To some of the
experts involved, this result really demonstrated increased overall
flexibility.
“This was really
promising to us because we thought wow, if you do some targeted exercises, it
can help with that,” says Olshevski.
New tech
More new cars come
equipped with features that can increase safety on the road at any age and are
especially helpful for anyone experiencing age-related decline in driving
skills.
Blind spot warning
that provides extra assurance when you’re changing lanes is one of those
technologies, as are back-up cameras, now built into all new cars.
“They don’t replace
the need to be flexible and have a good range of motion, but they can help,”
says Olshevski.
Crash avoidance
technology is becoming more advanced and more readily available too. This helps
with the often unnoticed decline in reaction time.
Go to class
However, even with
all of the bells and whistles, as a driver you must still factor in physical
and cognitive changes, and compensate by modifying your driving habits: slowing
down, leaving more space between the other vehicles, minimizing distractions.
Everyone over 50
should take defensive driving classes every few years to brush up on skills.
Improved road safety
starts with your own wellness, such as regular physical and vision checkups,
and ensuring that any medications you take don’t have side effects that affect
your driving, says Olshevski.
She recommends that
everyone over 50 take defensive driving classes every few years, to brush up on
skills.
“Be tuned in to what
changes you’re experiencing and be active in seeking out ways to help
compensate for that, such as appropriate exercise,” she says,
At the same time,
learn about new vehicle technology so if you’re shopping for a car, you can
look for one that has it.
Staying safer on the
road as you age doesn’t take all that much extra effort. But it could mean the
difference between hanging on to, or hanging up the car keys.
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