WORDS BY SUSAN STRANGE
Keys, Please How to know when it’s time for your aging parent to give up driving. More Older Drivers are on the Road In 2017, there were almost 44 million drivers over the age of 65 in the United States. According to the Automobile Association of America (AAA), by the year 2030, it is projected that 70 million Americans will be over the age of 65, and that 85% to 90% of them will be licensed to drive.
Henrietta Davis is 94, and while driving, she almost hit a car. Doris Allen is 92 and fell asleep at the wheel, hit a tree and narrowly avoided a pond. Indianapolis resident Rachel Hanley is 84. She knew that she had to relinquish her keys, so she took stock of alternate transportation after making notes of destinations she frequented during the course of a week.
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“Giving up driving was like giving up my right arm,” Hanley says. “It was so much a part of my life. I had worked hard not to have to rely on anyone for anything as I aged, and now I felt as though I was giving up my freedom. And, for the first time, I felt ‘elderly’ — a term I swore I would never use.”
Indy Grands Spring/Summer 2020
Christine Meyer, director of communications and public affairs for The Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Indianapolis, says that for drivers under the age of 74, a license is valid for six years. From ages 75 to 84, a license is valid for three years. But at 85 and above, a license has to be renewed every two years. All license renewals include a vision screening, but no additional written exam.
However, Meyer adds: “If an individual appears to possess a mental or physical issue that could possibly cause them to be a hazard to themselves or others, we can refuse to provide licensure until they provide information demonstrating their ability to meet our requirements.” A form must be completed in full before the state will initiate any review of a driver. The Driver Ability Department will not process any
reviews from an anonymous source. However, the name of the individual requesting the review will be kept confidential.
Giving Up Driving: When’s the Right Time? AAA offers a brochure called “Drivers 65 Plus” that features a 15-question self-rating driving assessment exercise, so that you can examine your loved one’s driving performance. AAA also offers a “professional driving assessment,” which includes a driving skills evaluation and a clinical driving assessment to identify underlying medical causes of driving performance issues. Costs for these evaluations vary, but you can find out more information at seniordriving. aaa.com. “After a few expletives, I realized that the conversation [about giving up driving] was only going to go downhill from there,” says Fishers resident Jane Denning, about talking to her 76-year-old mother about handing over the keys. “My choices were to proceed… or wrestle her to the ground. Believe me, wrestling would have been easier.”
