Do you wonder if the older driver in your family may be experiencing diminishing driving skills as a result of the natural aging process?
Has your parent become lost recently while driving on an otherwise familiar route? Have you noticed mom bumping into curbs, mailboxes, or scraping the side of the garage when she backs out? Are there unexplained scuff marks on the corners of dad’s bumpers? Has dad been involved in a minor parking lot fender-bender recently, or does he complain about being honked at all the time? Do either of them seem easily confused or more forgetful when you talk with them on the telephone?
If so, don’t panic; you are certainly not alone. The most important thing to remember is that the time to start addressing your concerns over driving is now, before “concerns” turn into “tragedies”.
Facts: According to AARP, boomers will be turning 65 at a rate of about 8,000 a day for the next 18 years! Tragically, an average of 15 people ages 65+ die in car accidents every day in the United States
The issue of taking the keys away from a parent can be extremely sensitive and emotional. Having this discussion has been likened to trying to throw a diplomatic hand grenade at your parents and the “talk” has been known to divide entire families. Adult siblings, otherwise close to each other their entire lives, can end up at war with each other (and/or with their parents) on how best to address the driving issue.
There is a solution; Keeping Us Safe has developed a workbook titled “Beyond Driving with Dignity; The workbook for older drivers and their families”.
The workbook employs a very user-friendly, uncomplicated method and is designed to be used in the comfort and confidence of the family’s home. It has been designed to remove the family’s emotion, opinion and speculation from the decision making process, and reduces everything to simple fact so that appropriate decisions can follow.
More specifically, the workbook helps the family and the older driver better recognize any deficiencies in the following dimensions:
- Vision
- Hearing
- Memory
- Reflex and reaction time
- Strength and flexibility
- Medications, and
- Overall health concerns
“The workbook was written to help families (or professionals working with families) by providing them with a ‘roadmap to success’ in their quest to overcome the challenges of an older driver’s safety” explains Matt Gurwell, founder and CEO of Keeping Us Safe.
Gurwell adds “If driving restrictions or even a complete retirement from driving are deemed appropriate, the ‘Limit Driving, Not Living’ chapter of the workbook helps the family identify and implement alternative means of transportation for the retiring driver.”
Working through this instrument will help concerned families make appropriate driving-related decisions that are not only in the best interest of the older driver, but simultaneously find themselves in the best interest of highway safety in general. This workbook was designed to be used by the family in the confidence and comfort of their own home, most likely seated right at the family’s kitchen table.
To purchase a workbook or to learn more about how the workbook can help your family or client, visit the Keeping Us Safe website at www.keepingussafe.org.
Matt Gurwell is the developer of the nationally-recognized “Beyond Driving with Dignity” program. He currently lectures throughout the United States on topics related to the aging process and its adverse affects on driving skills. As developer of this life-saving program, Matt’s mission is to provide strategies and guidance to seniors that will help them to continue driving safely until the decision is made to retire from their driving career. The “Beyond Driving with Dignity” program also provides an excellent array of services and resources for both families and professionals as they deal with this very sensitive issue. Matt retired from a very distinguished and successful 24-year career as an Assistant District Commander with the Ohio State Highway Patrol. After leaving the Patrol, Matt has participated in a tremendous amount of work in the area of older driver research, best practices, current vehicle safety technologies, and adaptive equipment. Matt's creative, innovative and common sense approach, combined with his uncanny ability to bring calm and resolve to stressful situations without ever jeopardizing the dignity of others, has contributed greatly to the success of the “Beyond Driving with Dignity” program. When asked what the ultimate motivation was for starting the program, Matt explains: "There was never one particular event. It was the result of 20-plus years of holding dying people in my arms at terrible car accidents, and delivering dozens and dozens of death notifications to families. I would much rather work with families to bring a peaceful resolve to this sensitive and uncomfortable issue now, rather than have them deal with it when a State Trooper is knocking on their front door". Matt serves as Senior Care Authority’s Program Director for the “Beyond Driving with Dignity” program. Senior Care Authority (https://www.seniorcareauthority.com) is now the nation’s exclusive provider of the “Beyond Driving with Dignity” program.
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