Drive, drove, driven: Getting around when you can no longer do the driving

Thirty years ago, I was a driving instructor – helping Spanish-speaking adults in Los Angeles become licensed drivers. Like me, many of those adults were Baby Boomers – born between 1946 and 1964. By 2030, this country’s over-65 population will number 71 million, more than double what it was in 2000. So the odds are that at some point, some proportion of those people I taught to drive should probably be persuaded to stop driving.

Naturally, being even very old does not have to mean giving up driving: we all know people well over 85 who still drive, and properly so. Many people practice self-limitation, choosing to limit the driving they do at night, for instance. Common factors involved in reduced fitness for driving include:

• Eye diseases

• Cognitive fitness, especially memory loss

• Prescription drug side effects

• Arthritis or other mobility impairment

• Slowing response times

Some states have laws requiring physicians to report medical conditions affecting driving ability. Washington permits but does not require physicians to notify the Department of Motor Vehicles of such conditions; whoever reports the condition will not necessarily remain anonymous. Tools are available to help you have a conversation with a friend or relative who probably should cease or limit driving, or who may no longer be safe behind the wheel.

For example, a free booklet, “We Need to Talk … Family conversations with Older Drivers,” is available at www.thehartford.com/talkwitholderdrivers/.

In Kitsap County, though, these tools offer limited help, because there are few alternatives to driving oneself. The most common solution sought is asking friends for rides. This option is loaded with difficulty – people hate to ask for ‘favors,’ ride-providers hate to accept money for gas, and so on.

Fixed-route public transit service in Kitsap County is not broadly available in the semi-rural areas where most of us reading this newspaper live. The ACCESS bus, viewed as a ‘last resort’ by some who use it, is a great service in Kitsap County, but you have to build wait-time into your schedule, and if you break an ACCESS appointment or fail to cancel at least two hours in advance, you’re charged with a no-show. (In Kitsap County, if you’re over 80, you are automatically eligible for ACCESS service; if you’re between 60 and 79 and ‘transportation disadvantaged,’ you are also likely to be eligible.)

I think a nice alternative would be to have a transportation cooperative – those of us still willing and able to drive could go “out of our way” for those who need help. Let’s go to work on it!