Your Safety
Driving Safely
Know Your Limits
Being a safe driver means more than avoiding crashes.
It also means paying attention to road conditions and
being aware of our own abilities, which can be expected
to change over time. Just a few simple adjustments,
such as limiting your driving to certain times or adding
an extra-wide mirror - can help protect you and those
around you from deadly crashes.
Maintenance of your BODY is as important as maintenance of your automobile. Keep them both well tuned! Don't drive until you feel better if you are ill, upset, or fatigued; don't drive your car until it is fixed if it needs repairs. The National Institute of Aging has "age pages" with especially relevant information for older drivers.
Be sure that the car you drive fits you. You'd be surprised at how much we shrink as we grow older - you need to adjust the seats or add cushions to be able to sit with your shoulders level with the top of the steering wheel in order to see over it without tilting your head back, reach it without locking your elbows, and leave 10 inches between your breastbone and the airbag to avoid injury in case it deploys. If your feet cannot comfortably reach the pedals, a professional in assistive devices can bolt on an extension (to the pedal, not your foot!). Adapting motor vehicles for people with disabilities has lots of other important vehicle safety information. Make sure to ALWAYS wear your seat belt.
Most of us were taught to keep our hands on the wheel at 10 and 2 o'clock; now, because of injuries that could be caused by an air bag's throwing the hands violently back into the face, newer instructions say to keep the hands at 9 and 3 o'clock, or even lower.
STARTING OUT: Do a few loosening-up exercises before you leave the house. Before you even switch on the ignition, be sure that you have plenty of fuel; that your glasses, the windshield and other windows are clean inside and outside; that all lamps and signals are working; that your tires are not low; that the seat and mirrors are properly adjusted; and that you are sure of where you are going and how to get there. You can check Caltrans Road Conditions for an on-line update of possible delays and weather conditions.
Wear your seatbelt and insist that your passengers do likewise. If you have groceries or other large packages on the seats, belt them in too. This will prevent shifting and spilling in the event of hard braking, when you certainly don't need more distractions.
While the minds of healthy older people think and understand as well as those of younger ones, and are even keener in some ways, they tend to react more slowly. Age lengthens the time it takes the brain to process information, and also makes it harder to ignore distractions. Reacting to a situation while driving involves three steps: sensing, deciding, and acting. For an older driver, each step tends to take longer - and possibly so long that it becomes dangerous. Here are some ways to give yourself more time and a calmer environment in which to sense, decide, and act:
- Leave more room in front of your car. Allow a greater distance between it and the vehicle ahead, so that you will have plenty of time to stop when necessary.
- Consider avoiding left turns, especially if they make you uncomfortable. (Though protected left turns with a green arrow may not be a problem.) You can sometimes make three right turns to avoid having to make a left turn. However, if you must turn left, pay extra attention to the speed of the cars coming toward you. Make sure you have enough time and space to safely cross oncoming traffic before starting to turn, and also watch for pedestrians who might cross in front of you before you can safely complete your turn.
- To the extent that you can, eliminate distractions such as the radio or cellular phone. If people in the car are distracting you, tell them they'll have a safer ride if they're quiet.
- Plan and go over your route ahead of time, so you won't reach an intersection and have to make a last-minute decision about which way to turn.
- If freeways are confusing or "feel" like they are moving too fast, use surface streets instead. Similarly, if rush hour driving is stressful, limit your driving to times of day when there is not so much traffic.
Finally, it is especially important to keep yourself and your vehicle visible and predictable by using low-beam headlights, even during the day, and ALWAYS using your turn signals.
The following links include tips on safe driving, how to choose and maintain a safe car, and crash ratings for various vehicles.
Bureau
of Automotive Repair
National Highway
Traffic Safety
U.S. Administration
on Aging (see GrandDriver, e.g.)