[LAST POST]

Question for all those complaining about senior drivers and saying they need to give the keys up.

Are you willing to do the same?

Do on to others as you would onto yourself is the lesson here.

Guest Blog from KBH

Guest Blog
My experience with drivers over 60 is actually quite intense.  On October 31, 2011 I was in an accident with an 82 year old man.  I was driving south on Lemmon Avenue in the left lane at about 25 mph.  The right lane was stopped due to construction and at the cross street of Reagan and Lemmon the right lane driver left a space for crossing traffic while at a complete stop.  The man I hit was trying to cross over Lemmon onto Reagan and I hit him.  The accident was determined to be his fault because he was crossing through traffic. 
I had a passenger whose hand was broken.  My injuries were to my neck and shoulder due to the intense force and the seatbelt restraining me.  I do not believe that man was injured.  This was not an incident of inability to perform the necessary tasks of driving safely. It was just an exercise in poor judgment.  The man was very competent and was actually the first one out of their car to check on us. 
I also have a 72 year old grandfather who is very active and continues to drive himself and my grandmother regularly.  My grandmother stopped driving in her fifties, and from all accounts from family members was never really a competent driver to begin with.  My grandfather is a notoriously cautious person who always insists on being the one who picks us up from the airport and doing the grocery shopping.  I don’t see him giving up his keys anytime soon.  (KBH, personal communication, August 15, 2012)


Check out KBH at collegekidglutenfree.blogspot.com

The Some Facts and Proections:

• The Natural Center for Health Statistics calculates that expectation of life at 65 is 18.7 years in 2008 ( as cited in National Research Council).
  
  • According to the United States Census in 2010, Texas is the fourth most populous state with a population of 2,099,451 people (as cited in Census Interactive Population Map, 2010).
   
  • The Pew Research Center says that there are Seventy-nine million people in this generation, stretching 19 years through 1964, and they making up a quarter of the US population (as cited in Taylor, 2011).
   
  • As of 2005, there were more than 36 million people ages 65 or older in the United States, of whom 28 million were licensed drivers, representing 15% of all drivers. During that year, 191,000 adults ages 65 or older experienced traffic-related injuries, and 36,790 older adults were involved in traffic fatalities as a driver, occupant, or pedestrian (as cited in HighBeam Business, 2013).
  
  
  • The census that the labor force will continue to age, with the annual growth rate of the 55-and-older group projected to be 4.1 percent, 4 times the rate of growth of the overall labor force (Toossi, 2005).
  
  
  • As of 2012, the census  accounts 4.4 percent of the civilian labor force  to be 65 and over (Toossi, 2009).
   
  • With the aging population of the United States, a growing concern is driving cessation for the baby boomers, a generation that grew up with the personal car. All ages show a preference for driving whether from the activity itself or the freedom that the automobile gives the driver to go where ever and whenever they want. Seniors who remain mobile and active live longer, while seniors without alternatives may suffer from depression. In 2005 the White House Conference on Aging listed the importance of mobility and transportation options for older Americans as “the third of 50 top resolutions voted by the 1,200 delegates” brought together to address the key issues affecting our nation’s aging population.[Molnar, L.J., Eby, D.W., & Dobbs]But after being addresses as top priority, little action has taken place. Burkhardt cautions to “not addressing the mobility needs of seniors of the future will isolate some valuable members of society in a discriminatory fashion, reduce their potential contributions to all of us, slow our economic growth, and become terribly expensive in terms of direct costs and opportunity costs” ( Burkhardt, J.E., & McGavock, A.T,2005, 24-27).
  
  
   
  • In Burkhardt also makes the case that “no single solution can meet all mobility needs of all seniors. A wide range of services and systems will be necessary.” With this is mind, other modes of transportation need to be reviewed to be able to service the growth of those unable to use the personal automobile. One system that is already in place is public transit, meaning public ran buses, para-transit, and rails ( Burkhardt, J.E., & McGavock, A.T,2005, 24-27).
  
  
  Go check out my guest blog on No Pain No Strain both one and two  about how its never to late to start excising. It has many links to great information sites for seniors to do to keep mobility and strength. Most exercise come in handy for senior drivers to regain motion in neck turning range, stairs, and much more.
  
  
   Reference~
  
  
  -2010 Census Interactive Population Map. (n.d.). 2010 Census. Retrieved December 12, 2012, from http://2010.census.gov/2010census/popmap/index.php
  
  
  - Mitra , Toossi. "Labor force projections to 2014: retiring boomers (EXCERPT), Monthly Labor Review Online, November 2005." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Version November 2005, Vol. 128, No. 11. Monthly Labor Review Online, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2005/11/art3exc.htm>.
  
  
  -Mitra , Toossi. "Labor Force." Employment outlook: 2008–18. Monthly Labor Review and Bureau of Labor Statistics., 29 Dec. 2010. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2009/11/art3full.pdf>.
  
  
  - Molnar, L.J., Eby, D.W., & Dobbs, B.M. (2005). Policy recommendations to the White House Conference on Aging Solutions Forum. Public Policy & Aging Report , 15, 24-27.
  -National Research Council (US). "Defining and Measuring Population Health - Accounting for Health and Health Care - NCBI Bookshelf." National Center for Biotechnology Information. ) Panel to Advance a Research Program on the Design of National Health Accounts., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK53336/>.
  
  
  -"Review of the evidence related to older adult community mobility and driver licensure policies.(Report) | HighBeam Business: Arrive Prepared." Business information, news, and reports | HighBeam Business: Arrive Prepared. HighBeam Business, 1 Mar. 2008. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://business.highbeam.com/436243/article-1G1-208275812/review-evidence-related-older-adult-community-mobility>.
  
  
  -United States Census Bureau. "Life Expectancy - The 2012 Statistical Abstract - U.S. Census Bureau." Census Bureau Homepage. U.S. Department of Commerce, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/births_deaths_marriages_divorces/life_expectancy.html>. -Taylor, P. (2011, January 3). First Baby Boomers Turn 65 : NPR. NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. Retrieved December 12, 2012, from http://www.npr.org/2011/01/03/132628267/First-Baby-Boomers-Turn-65