When to take away the car keys from aging parents

Figuring out when it’s time for a loved one to stop driving is one of the tougher challenges a family can face.

Driving means independence, which is an increasingly precious commodity as we get older. While you don’t want to make your parents miserable by taking away their keys, you don’t want to see them get into a serious accident, either. But how do you know when it’s time to intervene?

Griswold Home Care of Montgomery/Delaware/ Bucks Counties offers some tips for family members:

• Know the dangers. Safe drivers need eyesight and reflexes that are up to the demands of driving and sometimes have to make snap decisions. When debris blows onto the road or someone makes an unexpected turn, the difference between a close call and a total disaster is often less than 2 seconds. Age only makes vision and reaction time worse, which is why 80-year-old drivers get into just as many accidents as 18-year-old drivers, according to a study by Consumer Reports.

• Look for warning signs. Fortunately, it’s easy to spot many of the signs that it’s time to quit driving. When a driver becomes easily distracted, has trouble maintaining the correct lane, has significantly impaired vision, tends to drive too fast or too slow or starts hitting curbs frequently, these are warning signs that shouldn’t be ignored. If you don’t spend much time in the car with your loved one, the signs you’re looking for might be minor scrapes or dents appearing in the car or garage.

• Be thoughtful of the life change. Giving up driving can lead to emotional, physical and practical concerns about how to get around. Seniors are already at-risk for isolation and depression, and making it more difficult to get around can only worsen outcomes. Nobody wants to feel like they’re imposing on their family or friends, especially not every time they want to go out on a whim. Services like Lyft or Uber can help provide safe transportation on demand. And in-home caregivers can sometimes provide transportation.

• Rely on judgement, not the law. Most states don’t require older drivers to undergo additional testing, and legal authorities are generally powerless to strip someone of their right to drive until they’ve actually done harm. That means families have to work out these issues for themselves. Telling someone it’s time to hang up their keys is a tough topic to broach, but ignoring the signs it’s time to quit is a mistake many people don’t live to regret.

For more information, visit griswoldhomecare. com or call 215-310-5722.

A press release from Griwsold Home Care