In This Issue:

1. Driving Safely Takes All That You Have, Plus So Much More
2. Prolong Driving Safety:  Care for Yourself Like You Care for Your Car
3. Give Me Technology to Prolong Safe Driving Years
4. National Healthcare Decisions Day
5. Quiet Hybrids Pose a Public Danger

Does it seem like there is more government and community effort to get older drivers to stop driving than to prolong safe driving years? It does to us. We think it is time to talk about ways to prolong safe driving years--Focus on Driving Safety is SAFE Aging's theme of the month. This month we focus on driving safety and how to prolong safe driving years.

1. Driving Safely Takes All That You Have, Plus So Much More

The ALL YOU HAVE part of SAFE driving requires the driver to have a vast combination of physical, mental, and sensory skills and abilities. Most important are vision, rapid reaction time, excellent judgment/decision making.

The PLUS SIDE: To drive safely, drivers improve their safety advantage by driving safely constructed, well maintained and perfectly operating vehicles; wearing a seat belt at all times, obeying highway rules, avoiding road rage, and never driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The SO MUCH MORE SIDE: There are so many more factors drivers cannot control that can and do affect safety such as the following: 

ü      children playing outside or running on the street

ü      constantly changing scenery, environment and circumstances when driving

ü      distractions

ü      distracted pedestrians

ü      driver's under the influence of drugs or alcohol

ü      other drivers actions

ü      other motorist's vehicles

ü      outside workers and equipment

ü      people ignoring highway safety rules

ü      the condition or design of road ways and high ways

ü      visibility and readability of signs

ü      weather conditions, etc.

 Well, you get the picture.

Any one or more blips in the ALL YOU HAVE and the PLUS side of driving affect personal driving performance and driving safety. Combinations of blips drastically increase safety risks! When driver risk increases, risk also increases for the public at large. Add blips from the SO MUCH MORE side, and you have a blueprint for disaster!

To avoid disaster use all that you have, and on the plus side, be sure everything is in order to control your personal risks. Drive defensively and you can prolong safe driving years.

For further information, read Skills Needed for Driving Safely and Why

Ø Back to Top

2. Prolong Driving Safety: Care for Yourself
Like You Care For Your Car

To prolong driving safety, care for yourself like you care for your car (assuming you are doing a fine job of caring for your car!)

Here's our tips

1. Get regular check ups with your doctor.  (like your car gets with the mechanic)  

ü      Annual eye check up

ü      Regular physicals

ü      Required screenings

2. Keep your body well lubed

ü      Eat good nutritious food 

ü      Drink plenty of water

ü      Keep your muscles (like the belts in your car) flexible and in good condition

3. Stay fit or get fit (A good routine maintenance program)
    

4. Wear good shoes (like good tires, they are the basis for your ride and help with balance!)
    

5. Keep your mind in excellent condition (just like your car engine)
    

6. Be aware of medications that cause fatigue, sleepiness, visual, physical or mental changes (like additives in a car, you have to know what happens when you use them)

For more tips on driver safety, visit these web pages

• http://www.safeaging.com/consumer/Feb2005newsletter.htm

• http://www.safeaging.com/AdjustDrivingHabits.pdf

• http://www.safeaging.com/DrivingTips.pdf

Ø Back to Top

3. Give Me Technology to Prolong Safe Driving Years
by Vanessa M. Dazio, OTD, OTR/L

I am a boomer. I hope and plan to get older. I won't be graceful about it. I want to be hard charging, do everything I do now, and I don't want anyone to tell me I can't. The reality is, I do have to plan ahead because the facts are our bodies change and the way we do things have to be adjusted sometimes. If we don't adjust, independence may be a thing of the past. No way!

So, being the boomer that I am, I expect the world around me to help me adjust and compensate for things that are now or will be in the near future a little more "challenging" to do because of my aging body. Why not? After all, if I have to buy a product, it may as well fit me, work well for me and make my life easier... right?

Give me technology. Give me a car designed to make my life easier, so I can drive comfortably and independently until I am 120 years old and you've got my total attention!  

Here are some ideas to consider that can make life easier when driving, and as a result, could prolong safe driving years.

Problems with Arthritis, Pain, Weakness, Limited Coordination, Loss of Strength?

Arthritis can cause stiffness and pain in the hands, fingers, neck, back, and all other joints of the body. It is a common problem with seniors. There are so many other common health conditions that have an affect on strength, coordination, sensation and movement.

The auto industry is working hard to make cars that help drivers drive comfortably, without pain. They already have cars designed to help people who have trouble holding keys, turning the keys, opening doors, lifting trunks, moving the seats, manipulating controls and switches, turning or twisting to look to the side or to the back.

Here are some solutions that technology offers us today. More are coming everyday.

• Keyless entry systems: No need to hold and twist the key
   

• Heated seats: Warm your fannies; really great on cold days when everything feels stiff and the body just doesn't feel flexible
   

• Tilt-and-telescoping steering wheels: Provides more space to get in an out of the car
   

• Adjustable pedals: Useful to compensate for couples who have different heights. (Really good for someone who has a tough time bending the legs to get into or out of the car.)
   

• Back up cameras: If twisting the trunk or turning the neck is hard to look backwards or side to side, new back up cameras and rear parking sensors can be very helpful.
   

• Cruise controls: Cruise controls can reduce fatigue caused by extending the leg or bending the foot when accelerating
   

• Push button ignitions: No need to even use keys

Problems with Vision? There are some new assistive technologies that can help

• Night vision systems use infrared technology that makes it so much easier to see objects and things on dark roads at night, and reduces the glare of oncoming headlights.
   

• Lane-drift warning systems let drivers know when they've edged outside their lanes.
   

• Adaptive cruise control: This automatically keeps a certain distance between one vehicle and another.
   

• Voice-activated navigation systems: Get directions without having to read.
   

• Advanced parking guidance system: Sonar sensors are used so vehicles can parallel-park with the driver supervising
   

• Smart Car Technology: The Smart-Car or Intelligent Vehicle performs functions such as warning a driver if the car gets too close to another vehicle. If the driver does not react, then it will automatically apply the brakes, preventing the collision. The system has the ability to take charge of steering the vehicle if the driver happens to be very careless. (This technology is now in development)
   

• The VORAD -- Vehicle Onboard Radar: detects stationary objects through fog, rain, snow, darkness and smoke. It is in use on some commercial trucks. (The point is technology is developing that can really help all drivers to drive more safely, in a wide variety of situations.

I say hop on board!

Resources

• Top 10 Vehicles for Seniors for 2007

• Wheels and Wings, Issue 2, January 2008

• CNN.com - U.S. auto industry urged to work on 'smart car' technology

Ø Back to Top

4. National Healthcare Decisions Day

April 16th was a nationwide initiative to encourage all citizens to plan ahead to make advanced health care decisions. This can be a difficult challenge for families, but it is an important one. Advance directives are health care choices made in writing that can provide guidance to the person you select to be your voice (if or when you cannot speak for yourself).

Advance directives come in two main forms:

1. A "healthcare power of attorney" (or "proxy" or "agent" or "surrogate") documents the person you select to be your voice for your healthcare decisions if you cannot speak for yourself.
    
2. A "living will" documents what kinds of medical treatments you would or would not want at the end of life.

For more information, visit http://www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org/Welcome.htm, or contact

Wayne K. Ekren, Attorney at Law
www.ekrenlaw.com
727-845-0700

Ø Back to Top

5. Quiet Hybrids Pose a Public Danger
By Vanessa M. Dazio, OTD, OTR/L

Beware! The super quiet new hybrid engines are a danger to the public. The hybrid's soundless engine, while a technological marvel, is a public safety threat. You can't tell the hybrid engine is on while in the car, standing next to it, or when it passes you on the road.

Highway workers, school crossing guards, policemen, firefighters, emergency response teams, bicyclists, distracted pedestrians, children playing, as well as the vision impaired, consciously and unconsciously use and depend on hearing to detect the distance (and speed of approach) of potentially life threatening oncoming vehicles.  

Should visibility be limited such as with thick fog or smog, blinding snowstorms, blizzards and rainstorms, hearing can be used to detect the sounds or proximity of approaching cars. In such emergency situations, stranded motorists standing near parked vehicles may never hear an approaching hybrid. 

Children playing in driveways may not see Mom, Dad or Grand Dad pulling out of the garage, but they have a chance of getting out of harms way when they hear the start up of a noisy engine. This will not be true with the hybrids.  

While car companies are now boasting about the hybrids super quiet engine features, we now have a new unintended dangerous safety hazard for the public at large. 

If you are thinking about purchasing a hybrid, think first about these unintended safety risks. Until the auto industry makes a little more noise, be fore warned, the highways and driveways are a lot more dangerous now!

Ø Back to Top

Internet Resources

Additional resources used in this newsletter are the following:

• U.S. Department of Transportation: The Older Driver Comes of Age

• Older Drivers: Type of Problem Being Addressed

• SAFE Aging Newsletter: February 2005

• American Medical Association: Physicians Guide to Assessing and Counseling Older Drivers

Ø Back to Top

Enjoy our newsletter?

Then get it delivered to your inbox every month, for free!

Simply visit any page on our website (www.safeaging.com) and enter your email address in the "Join Our Mailing List" sign up box. It's that easy!  SAFE Aging will never share your information with other companies--confidentiality is assured. Refer your friends, families, and associates too!

Ø Back to Top

Wherever You Go! 
Carry Your Medical & Emergency Info!
www.MedicTag911.com

MedicTag is a portable digital medical alert device that plugs into a computer or laptop USB port and provides instant access to vital emergency info when needed the most.

ONLY $34.95 + s/h

No annual fees!

Ø Back to Top

Article Submissions

We invite interested authors to submit theme based articles for the SAFE Aging newsletter. Please send submissions in either .doc or .rtf format, Arial 10pt. font, and with a 300 word maximum. Articles should be written in an easy to read format to meet the needs of a varied readership including seniors, family members of seniors, caregivers and other senior service providers.  

Topics should in some way be related to health, safety or injury prevention. Articles may not be an advertisement for services and must be informative or helpful. Author photo and contact information may be included. 

There is no guarantee that submitted articles will be published. Generally, articles will be held until the appropriate monthly theme. All articles become the property of SAFE Aging and are subject to editing.

We now have advertising opportunities based on monthly, semi-annual or annual advertising rates. Please contact newsletter@safeaging.com for details.

Ø Back to Top