OLDER DRIVERS AT GREATER RISK

WRECK-LESS DRIVING©
by Gunther Doerfert, Auto Safety Columnist


OLDER DRIVERS AT GREATER RISK
WIKIEUP, AZ: “What is the risk of older drivers dying in a severe crash?” asks reader Sharon F. who resides near I-40 in AZ. Older drivers have crashes in much different circumstances than do the younger ones. Most often the over age 65 persons have collisions while making left turns. They fail to yield the right of way and do not always see stop signs and traffic signals. Also they misjudge the speed and distance of approaching vehicles. The younger group have theirs while driving on straight roads by speeding or following too closely.

Drivers age 80 to 84 have more than 4 times the death rate in crashes than those age 65 to 69 . The rate jumps to 6 times at age 85 and above and to 11 times compared to drivers under age 65. Most of these higher death rates are due to the greater physical and mental fragility of the highest age groups.

Why the greater driving risks? As we age our driving skills become more and more impaired. Hearing, vision, motor, cognitive and reaction time abilities decline. For some, mild dementia may be present but not readily apparent to observers. Ever faster and crowded traffic, small signs passing-by too quickly to read, and more complex auto instrument displays are some of the stress producers which the driver cannot control.

There is one corrective action available to all drivers age 50 and over - the age at which some of the declines may be evident to the driver and to others. This is an adult learning style safe driving class where in 2 four-hour participative sessions old skills are sharpened and new ones learned. It costs $10 and in 36 states and DC can earn an extra insurance discount for 3 to 5 years. Those who complete the course have significantly fewer fatal and injury crashes and fewer moving violation convictions.. Phone 1-888-AARPNOW to locate the nearest of the more tha.n 10,000 expert Instructors or for links to this same course on-line on your computer.
GHD197 all rights reserved

TOO MANY OLDER DRIVERS

WRECK-LESS DRIVING©
by Gunther Doerfert, Auto Safety Columnist

TOO MANY OLDER DRIVERS
CHOCORUA, NH: JoeyC@nhu.net, age 32, e-mailed the belief that there are too many older drivers clogging the highways. He says that it is not a problem back in the "boonies" where he lives but becomes so on the main roads all across the Country. More so in retirement communities. He wants to know what the authorities can do about it.
Yes, Joey, there are many drivers now over 65 and because most are retired you do see them all day long. But many fewer at night because they are mature enough and care enough about your safety to accept that they are less confident and competent driving in the dark. There are, also, a lot of younger drivers who do poorly behind the wheel. But most of that is over confidence rather than less than perfect hearing, vision, mobility, and reaction time.
Recent medical findings are that the human brain is not fully developed until age 26. Thus the youngest licensed drivers do not make the best safe driving decisions or are slower to make them. So, they may not be careless but just too immature to handle a killing machine with adult carefulness.
Drivers age 65 plus are generally safe and careful. They are about 14% of all licensed drivers and are involved in only 8% of crashes reported to authorities and in 11% of fatal collisions. Whereas younger drivers (age 16 to 24) are also about 14% of all licensed drivers but involved in 26% of reported crashes and in 26% of fatals.
65 plus age drivers have a lower collision rate per 1,000 drivers than any other age group. Further, they drive fewer miles per year than any other age group. Sadly, at about age 70 and older they have more crashes per miles driven than any other age group. And due to their frailty they are more severely injured and take longer to heal, if ever.
GHD196 all rights reserved

INTERSTATE COURTESY

WRECK-LESS DRIVING©
by Gunther Doerfert, Auto Safety Columnist


INTERSTATE COURTESY
KADOKA, SD: Carla S. lives within sight of I-90 and reports that there seems to be an extraordinary amount of construction and repair here and on most Interstates around the U.S. She says that the resulting work zones are especially dangerous to the repair crews and to motorists. Carla points out, too, that in many states penalties for speeding are doubled and even tripled in these zones, mostly to protect the workers.

As a result of the slow speeds and frequent stops caused by the construction there are many collisions in these slow areas. Most are caused by inattentive drivers who crash into the rear of the vehicle ahead. The damage is very severe and sometimes deadly when the careless offender is driving a heavy commercial vehicle. When in such a zone be sure to leave plenty of empty space in front of you for unexpected stops. For protecting your rear about all you can do is to give plenty of brake light warnings and, if helpful, use the emergency flashers. Glance often in the rearview mirror to spot approaching fast movers.

In 2004 Tennessee made it mandatory for all vehicles to form a single line at the sign telling them to do so. This sign is well in advance of the actual repair zone. A major reason for this new law is to prevent aggressive drivers from staying in the about-to-be-closed lane until the last few feet. They then recklessly force their way into the single lane ahead of the careful ones who merged earlier with much greater safety and courtesy.
Recently twenty-nine other states have passed similar laws to control these unsafe line-jumpers.

Our Interstate system is more than 50 years old. Much of it is too narrow (especially bridges), pavement is broken, and the hills and curves are too severe by present standards. Recent reports state that I-81 running for the Canadian border into East Tennessee is obsolete. In most areas it is only 2 lanes each way. Experts say that with the massive increase in semi-trailers and autos that it should be 5 lanes each way. In one stretch in Virginia some 20 persons had been killed during the summer of 1999. Please be careful not just in repair zones but on any high speed roadway.

Is it time for the railroads to come back into favor? A private group is promoting a railroad parallel to the obsolete I-81 in Virginia. The State is considering 2 “trucks only” lanes paid for by per mile used charges.
GHD195 all rights reserved

KIDS GET KILLED

WRECK-LESS DRIVING©
by Gunther Doerfert, Auto Safety Columnist


KIDS GET KILLED
BLACK DIAMOND, WA: Our reader and mother of school age children, Effie Z., tells us that many more children are killed as pedestrians by careless auto drivers than are killed in school shootings. So, she asks, why so little media uproar over the fact that more kids are killed by being hit by a car than the total killed by E.coli in bad food, accidental shootings, and auto air bags? Because of a few school and work shootings some persons are demanding all guns be removed from American society.

This raises the idea that if banning guns will save people’s lives then would it be all the more effective to ban motor vehicles? As many persons are killed annually in U.S. crashes as the number of heroes killed in the Vietnam mess. Common sense, however, leads one to understand that our world is full of products which can kill if misused by us humans. More intelligent would be greater efforts to teach us how to use these wonderful inventions with safety to ourselves and to others.

That is what this column is all about - making motoring safer by .learning the best ways to drive a potentially dangerous vehicle. We advocate, too, that those persons who cannot or will not drive safely be banned from driving. Makes more sense, does it not, than banning all vehicles because of a few violators? Same goes for bureaucrats forcing us to drive small lightweight cars because they do less damage to other vehicles in crashes. This overlooks the greater harm done to these small autos and occupants when hit by large commercial vehicles. Of course, the oil shortage situation modifies the anti small vehicle stance.

We started out this column discussing children hit by autos. Many, if not most, occur on residential streets where kids are likely to playfully run and fail to pay attention to nearby cars. Should we ban autos from these streets or should we do more to teach safety to both the children, their parents and the drivers?
GHD194 all rights reserved