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Jo Ann Malina - 27 Oct 2005 12:07 GMT

I was reading some online newspapers to see how south Florida is doing
after Hurricane Wilma. It seems the most e-mailed article for one of
them was not about the hurricane but about a driving mishap. Notice
that this was the driver's first accident, or at least, the first one
that came to the attention of the authorities.

Driver, 93, rolls through St. Pete toll booth with body sticking out of
windshield

ST. PETERSBURG -- A 93-year-old driver apparently suffering from dementia
fatally struck a pedestrian, then continued driving through a toll booth with
the man's body on his windshield, police said.

Ralph Parker, of Pinellas Park, drove for three miles Wednesday night after
striking the 52-year-old pedestrian with his gold 2002 Chevrolet Malibu,
severing the man's right leg, police said.
...
A spokesman for the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said
the agency would conduct its own inquiry into whether Parker, who otherwise had
a clean driving record, should have had a license.

Seniors age 80 or older must pass only a vision test when renewing a Florida
driver's license.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-1021body,0,282956.story

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Jo Ann Malina, make spamthis best to find my address
Growing old -- it's not nice, but it's interesting. -- August Strindberg

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Mary_Gordon@tvo.org - 27 Oct 2005 14:05 GMT

Florida is NOTORIOUS for its lax rules with respect to elderly drivers.

Here in Ontario, we had manditory annual testing for drivers over 80
(which my grandfather - who drove until he was 91 - used to bitterly
complain about, but which the entire family was thrilled with). Now
they have replaced that with doctors having to report anyone of any age
with a medical issue that might impact their driving - and the person
then gets given a specified amount of time to redo their test or lose
their license.

However, I think the idea of just having doctors report the person is a
poor one, given that so many people don't regularly see a doctor - and
that so many doctors are so oblivious (or dismissive) regarding brewing
dementia and other impairments in their patients. Our family doctor is
a very perceptive guy (he has that sort of 6th sense), and he saw my
mother in law very frequently, and until we raised the issue, he had NO
idea she was having problems - and when he did an in-office mini
cognitive screen he was completely floored (i.e. she wasn't just subtly
impaired - it was huge and overt).

If doctors were required to do an annual cognitive screen for all
patients over 70, it might work a little better.

Mary

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Karen - 28 Oct 2005 05:05 GMT

It also depends on the doctor. When we became involved with my MIL's
medical care, I found out she had been to see 3 neurologists. She had
forgotten about the 2 earlier ones which had diagnosed EOAD in mid-stages
and her PCP had sent her to them because she thought it was EOAD. We went
with her to the third appointment and in spite of the doc trying to coach
her through the tests, she failed miserably. He still wouldn't say she was
impaired and gave us some hoodly-hoop about "just being elderly" (she was
68). He's also the one that said Arisept wouldn't help her past a 12-16
month window and he was most sarcastic about how we were coming to visit but
returning back to our town without her. How we were to move her against her
will with her having rage-tantrums, he didn't say.

Counting on the doc is an iffy proposition (IMO). That would assume all
docs are competent.

Karen

> Florida is NOTORIOUS for its lax rules with respect to elderly drivers.
>
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>
> Mary

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Dennis P. Harris - 28 Oct 2005 03:57 GMT

> I was reading some online newspapers to see how south Florida is doing
> after Hurricane Wilma. It seems the most e-mailed article for one of
> them was not about the hurricane but about a driving mishap. Notice
> that this was the driver's first accident, or at least, the first one
> that came to the attention of the authorities.

There was also a story in the past week about a 93 year old woman
coming to the hospital for some tests drove her car through the
glass front of the lobby and killed several people.

OTOH, my paternal grandfather had his license renewed just before
his 99th birthday, and was a safe driver. A week before he died
5 months later, he was hauling 60-70 lb rocks around his rock
garden.

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