Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Seniors get refresher on driving skills
Program at Avon Grove Library provides lecture, driving updates for seniors
WEST GROVE » A driving safety expert came to the Avon Grove Library on Thursday to update senior drivers on their skills. It was a free program, and it included not only a lecture, but answers to questions as well as a real-life simulation on how it feels to be buzzed on a couple beers and having to walk a sobriety line.
Matthew Eskridge is a retired police officer who served in Delaware and New England. Following his retirement, he joined the Mid-Atlantic AAA as an instructor with the Foundation for Safety and Education.
The last time he was in West Grove was at a children’s event in Goddard Park, where he taught children how to properly wear and adjust their bicycle helmets.
His agenda on Thursday addressed the other end of the age spectrum, as he carried on a lively dialogue with retired individuals about the way they drive their cars.
He asked why his guests had attended.
“I need more confidence on the road,” Barb Murphy said.
“We like the programs at the library,” her husband Joe Murphy said.
For his part, Eskridge was not patronizing, nor did not treat senior driving skills as a remedial activity for people who were deficient in their ability to navigate. He never implied that their vision or reflexes has slowed down with age.
Instead, the lessons he taught in his hour-and-ahalf presentation were about changes that have been made in car construction, devices and road conditions in the last 40 or so years — when these good-driving seniors had obtained their licenses in the first place.
Cars are much safer these days, he said, but some of those features require adaptation by the drivers that some older drivers may not have made or have just adjusted to on the fly.
“Remember when they told you to hold the wheel at 10- o’clock and four o’clock?” he asked.
That configuration cuts down on your control of steering, he said, not to mention that it puts your hands in the way of your air bag.
Regarding air bags (which were not in use 40 years ago), he said the minimum distance the driver should have from the wheel is 10 inches. Any closer than that, the driver can be whacked by the activation.
“They’ve killed hundreds of people,” he said.
He asked if the people in the audience thought it was safer to be communicating by holding a cellphone or hands-free blue tooth.
Although it appears that hands-free is safer, he said it is just a dangerous and causes as many accidents as those held.
“It’s the distraction,” he said.
And speaking of distractions, he said a large dog in the back seat could not only become a fatal projectile in an accident, but little dogs held by the driver are equally dangerous for the driver and the animal.
He referenced an experience he had when a woman who had just crashed kept asking where her dog was. She had been holding the dog in her lap just before the crash. He looked down and found it dead by her feet.
Eskridge brought along glasses that, when worn, simulate in one’s brain what it is like to be driving with merely a small buzz of two or three beers. Joe Murphy tried it out. He first walked a line the way drivers are asked to when they are stopped by police for suspected DUI without the glasses.
He was quite skilled and steady on the first try.
Then he put on the “buzzed” glasses.
There was quite a difference as Murphy even needed Eskridge’s help in standing up straight and staying on the line.
As the time period for the event wound down, Eskridge carried on a dialogue with his audience about handling situations on the road, like deciding who should travel through an intersection first, how often drivers should check their tires, how to position their rearview mirrors and how much distance they should maintain with other cars.
Eskridge has experience with other courses he is fond of as well, like School Safety Patrol and “Otto The Auto” remote control.
With Otto, he takes a remote control little car to the classroom and controls it from behind a sheltered area. The little car drives around the room and talks to the kids about crossing the street, wearing a seat belt and other issues.
This was one of many programs offered by the Avon Grove Library that are offered on a regular basis or as special events.
The highly popular summer reading program attracts hundreds of children, but adults cover a wide range of subjects as well, like history and crafts.