{"id":84,"date":"2013-07-21T21:33:44","date_gmt":"2013-07-22T02:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/assistinghandspb.wordpress.com\/?p=84"},"modified":"2020-01-15T11:49:30","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T16:49:30","slug":"is-it-time-to-give-up-the-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/34\/florida\/palmbeach\/blog\/is-it-time-to-give-up-the-car\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it time to give up the car?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"senior<\/p>\n

For most of us, the automobile represents independence, control and mobility. Most of today’s seniors built their lives around the ability to drive wherever they wanted\u2014to work, to visit friends, to shop, to their faith community and on vacation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet the normal changes of aging can make driving more challenging. Hearing loss, vision problems, decreased reaction time, memory loss and lessened manual dexterity are all limitations that tend to increase as a person ages.<\/p>\n

Seniors and their loved ones should discuss driving safety, and periodically assess driving abilities to honestly judge whether the senior adult is safe behind the wheel. There may come a point when any one of these conditions or a combination of several makes it difficult and risky to keep driving.<\/p>\n

Some older drivers become increasingly nervous about their driving ability, and consequently become less mobile in the community. Some keep driving until an incident occurs\u2014a scare, a minor accident, or worse\u2014and then quit driving abruptly, without having made plans for what they will do without the car. And others are in denial, refusing to face up to limitations until family members or the department of licensing step in.<\/p>\n

Seniors who have successfully made the transition from being a driver urge others to plan ahead and be proactive. One 84-year-old man who abruptly stopped driving after an accident counsels, “Don’t wait for circumstances to make decisions for you!”<\/p>\n

If you are a senior driver, or you are planning to have a conversation with an elderly loved one about their driving, here are some important things to remember:<\/p>\n

Giving Up Driving Doesn’t Mean Giving Up Mobility<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first thing to do is to add up the cost of owning and maintaining a car. Car payments, insurance, repairs, gasoline, parking fees\u2014all these should go into your calculation. For most people, the total is considerable. Think of those dollars as money available for alternative transportation.<\/p>\n