GOING DUI ON ALLERGY MEDICINE

GOING DUI ON ALLERGY MEDICINE
CASSAHOWITZKA, FL :A letter from Eileen M. reminds that Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) laws have been replaced with Driving Under the Influence (DUI). She says that a number of legal medicines can lead now to a driving conviction. This includes prescription drugs as well as nostrums right off the open shelves. Some of these otherwise helpful medicines can cause side effects similar to and just as dangerous for drivers as is alcohol.

One medicine in the news is the antihistamine, diphenlyhydramine, sold widely for allergy symptom relief. Researchers at the University of Iowa reported that this medicine had a greater affect on some important driving skills than does alcohol. Particularly noted was a serious decrease in steering ability which could lead to crossing into oncoming vehicles. One has to wonder whether the roadways are teeming with drivers who may not realize that the “funny” feeling they experience is not caused by the illness but rather by the trusted cure.

This danger needs much more publicity and law enforcement scrutiny. While it is relatively easy to sniff out the heavy drinker of alcohol, not so for most medicines. It is likely that many crashes have as their cause undetected medicine induced DUI rather than driver carelessness. This could explain why so many careful and normally safe drivers have crashes for which they have no explanation – “it just happened” or “it was not my fault”.

The U of I research scientists also tested a newer allergy medicine whose generic name is fexofenadine. It is the active ingredient in a popular prescription drug. This chemical substance had no deleterious effect on the driving skills which they measured.
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WHY SHOULD I IMPROVE MY DRIVING?

WHY SHOULD I IMPROVE MY DRIVING?
MATUNUCK, RI: Ben L, at age 70, is the typical older driver. He questions why there is all this pressure on older drivers to take a refresher program. He says he has been driving for 56 years with only a few fender benders, though most of them have occurred in the last few years. Ben claims they were all accidents and thus not his fault!

Here are some frightening facts from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
About 5,700 persons age 65 and older die in motor vehicle crashes.

Older people (70 and older) made up 12 percent of all traffic fatalities, 12 percent of vehicle occupant fatalities and 16 percent of pedestrian fatalities, according to NHTSA.

About 82 percent of fatal accidents involving older drivers happen during the day. Seventy-four percent involve another vehicle.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, about half of fatal crashes involving drivers 80 years and older occurre at intersections and involve more than one vehicle. This compares with 24 percent among drivers up to age 65.

At age 50 about 23% of fatal crashes are at intersections.

Persons age 75 and older suffer 25 motor vehicle deaths per 100,000 persons. This is more than any other age group except the youngest who have 29 deaths per 100,000.

Drivers age 75 and older have higher rates of fatal motor vehicle crashes than any other age group except the teenagers.

Drivers age 75 and older have more crashes per mile than any other age group except teenagers.

Fatal crash rates per licensed driver rise sharply at age 70 and beyond.

For males, the motor vehicle deaths per 100,000 persons starts to rise about age 70. About age 80 and older, the crash death rate is 2+ times higher than for males age 40 to 74.

Males, at any age, have considerably greater vehicle death rates per 100,000 persons than do females of the same age. The rate for males at age 85+ jumps to 3 times greater than for females of the same age.
Is it any wonder that many auto insurance companies increase dramatically their premiums for drivers when they reach age 75? Your suggestions for improving the driving record of older persons are most welcome.
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