Peter Rombouts started driving at age 16. Now at age 84, he continues to drive friends around with his own wheels. Every Wednesday as a volunteer for the Golden Circle he picks up people for a dinner at the centre.
He recently purchased a newer Buick, with his son helping him pick it out and offering him the advice to take it slow.
Rombouts was one of around 50 people who gathered at the Golden Circle in Red Deer on Saturday for the Seniors Exploring Transportation Options session put on by the Alberta Motor Association, the Golden Circle Seniors Resource Centre and the City of Red Deer.
“It makes you think. It gives you a little bit of a point if you are not 100 per cent you should quit driving,” said Rombouts.
But so far Rombouts hasn’t had any difficulties passing the medical tests every two years that allow him to continue driving. He said he is healthy and he hopes it stays that way for a long time.
Another attendee at the Saturday session was 85-year-old Jack Kokotailo who says the thought of giving up his licence is quite significant because it would involve a change in lifestyle.
His wife gave up her licence five to six years ago due to a medical condition that she felt was serious enough to stop driving. The couple moved into downtown Red Deer so that they could manage if both of them were no longer able to drive.
“I’m at the age where I’m concerned about the status of my driving and what I can do about it so this is a good information session,” Kokotailo said.
He said many seniors find ways to help their driving by avoiding driving at night or during heavy rush hour.
Dr. Bonnie Dobbs, director of the Medically At Risk Driver Centre at the University of Alberta, said most men will outlive their ability to drive by six years and most women will outlive their driving careers by 10 years. “So all of us at some point may have to transition out of our vehicles so we should start preparing for it,” she said.
One of the things she spoke about on Saturday about a written test, called the SIMARD MD, that the centre has developed that doctors can give to their patients to test their cognitive abilities. However, Driver Fitness and Monitoring, under Alberta Transportation determines people’s fitness to drive.
Dobbs said people often think of at risk drivers as those who are younger or alcohol impaired and then they think about the older driver. However, she said it isn’t age that impairs a person’s ability to drive, but illness, which more often affects older drivers.
Dobbs said having pulmonary disease or a neurological condition can increase at fault collision rates substantially, but those with dementia or those who have a cognitive impairment have crash rates three times higher than average.
“If a person has a visual impairment — cataracts or glaucoma — or if they have a motor impairment, so if they have Parkinson’s disease or arthritis, and they can’t turn the steering wheel then they are aware of it and they may stop driving on their own,” Dobbs said.
“Dementia is different in that with a cognitive impairment the illness often robs the individual of clear insight and so many continue to keep driving.”
Dobbs encourages families to talk to loved ones early on in their diagnoses about when they will have to give up their licences. Dobbs said it’s won’t be an easy conversation but it is better to get someone off the road before they have harmed themselves or someone else.
She said it really is about public safety and if there is someone who has an illness who has robbed them of their insight, people know the individual will not stop driving on their own and they are not going to be happy about having their licence revoked.
But she said if the community can start preparing the senior population then it will be easier for the medical community, for families and it will increase traffic safety.
She encourages people to set up a transportation fund, using the $12,000 a year it would have cost to own and operate their own vehicle for cab fare.
However, Dobbs recognizes not everyone can use taxis or the bus system, especially those with dementia.
“What we need to do as communities is to start developing more responsive, alternate means of transportation, particularly for the cognitively-impaired population who can’t use traditional transportation,” Dobbs said.
Caroline Gee, program coordinator who oversees aging drivers and seniors’ transportation with the AMA, said it’s important for people to plan ahead for the day they will have to hang up their keys.
She said as a community Red Deer needs to plan infrastructure that will help seniors get to where they need to go. She said in urban areas there are options, but in the rural areas seniors rely on family or friends and may not want to trouble them.
“It’s not a matter of if you’re going to hang up your keys it’s a matter of when,” Gee said.
“Driving is a privilege. Some of us think it’s a right. Because it’s a privilege we need to look after it, we need to plan ahead because it is an important component of our lives.”
sobrien@www.reddeeradvocate.com