ThisWeek May9,1990, Page M3

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_ TOP STORY

t’s Monday morning but she

drives as though it’s a country

Sunday: at intersections, her

HMS Giant Car swallows a tank
of gas before she decides it’s safe to
proceed on a green light and more
than a month passes before she man-
oeuvres into a left turn. In the fifty
zones, her nicely polished beast slows
to the pace of a dead turtle and she
ignores — or doesn’t hear — the
impatient honks and toots of the
younger, faster, generation.

“No wonder there are so many
accidents,” you shout. From the back
seat, your grandfather angrily denies
that older motorists are hazardous to
your health: if you'd just slow down,
he says, quit whipping all over the
place, the accident rate would de-
erease, and so would your ulcer.

You both have valid points. And
they're points which will be argued
more frequently as young drivers race
into old age and, perhaps, into the
problems often encountered by senior
citizens who live during this age of
automobile worship.

While society “oohs” and “ahhs” a
mode of transportation which doesn’t
merely transport but, instead, pro-
vides a concise definition of a driver’s
philosophical and financial values,
the members of society are growing
older. Today, 25 per cent of B.C.’s
drivers are 55 years or older but, by
the year 2050, that percentage will
increase to 39. And if the stereotype of
the “little old lady” or “little old man”
driver is to be believed, the increase
will mean a growth of near-accidents
and on-the-road hostilities as 39 per
cent of our drivers hem and haw
before turning, peer through steering
wheel spokes in a vain effort to see
road signs, and diddle and dawdle
along through the bumper-to-bumper
traffic featured on our roads and
highways.

Even though tomorrow’s senior
drivers are today’s young and middle-
aged drivers, there’s no reason to
think the future will change percep-
tions about elderly motorists. It’s not
the older drivers’ lack of experience
which annoys other drivers. It is,
quite simply, that they are old. And
with age comes
physical deteriora-
tion that changes
driving abilities.

“ A high percen-
tage of elderly peo-
ple have signifi-
cantly blurred vi-
sion, such as might
affect driving
skills,” says eye
specialist Dr. An-
gus Macdonald, es-
timating that cataracts affect the vi-
sion of 20 to 30 per cent of older
people.

“Tt’s not something a person is going
to notice right away. Gradually, a
cloud develops and as the cloud

LIFE IN THE

SLOW

ol

TRAFFIC PATTERNS have changed drastically
to drive. It’s a different world out there and some seniors are taking defensive

driving Courses to hone their driving skills.

Story by KERRY READSHAW
Photos by TONY KANT

spreads, vision decreases.”

Left untreated — as it may be, if a
person is afraid of losing driving
privileges and so, not realizing his or
her vision problems are correctable,
doesn’t consult a physician — a
cataract formation
can cause blind-
ness. Before blind-
ness sets in, howev-
er, a driver may
have several near
misses: he may not
see the approach-

ing car or pedestri-
an, she may not be
able to read the “No
left turns between
= 4-6 p.m.” sign. Ad-
ditionally, cataract sufferers are sen-
sitive to glare and have difficulty
driving when there is bright sun or
when lights from lamps, signs, and
approaching cars irritate eyes.

Other eye problems common for the
aged include retinal disintegration, a
condition which affects the acuity of
vision, and a loss of sensitivity to
contrast. Macdonald explains con-
trast insensitivity by pointing out

that the world consists of varying
shades of grey and color — a person
who can not distinguish between the
variations is someone who can not
properly judge distances, a skill cru-
cial to safe driving.

“Deteriorating
eyesight is a fairly
frequent concern
for older people.
Most of my pa-
tients are con-
cerned about their
ability to drive and
to function in nor-
mal daily living,”
says Macdonald,
who treats many
older patients.

When he equates driving with nor-
mal living, he’s not alone.

“They say that a car is an extension
of a man’s . . .” Elsie Coles, co-
ordinator of North Park’s volunteer
services in the Fairfield area, breaks
off. She pauses, delicately.
Several years ago, her father-in-law
failed his second attempt to pass a
Motor Vehicle Department exam.

“He was an unsafe driver,” Coles

since many seniors first leamed

recalls. “I rode with him on the way to
the exam and it was frightening. But
he really wanted to drive. I tried to
talk to him about taking the money
he'd usually put into gas and insur-
ance and putting it into taxi rides, but
he wouldn’t even think of it. It was as
if... the car was something that
could be seen and touched. Maybe it
was like an investment. The thought
of stopping, of not driving anymore,
was a terrible thing for him.”
But when the examiner got into the
car, Elsie Coles’ father-in-law was
unable to properly maneouvre his
vehicle away from the curb.

“He didn’t even get to go around the
block. I think he went up onto the
curb, something like that, when he
started off. The test ended then. I
drove home,” says Coles. “For him, it
was like losing a bit of his manhood.
His independence. And my mother-in-
law would bother him about failing
because now she couldn’t get around
as much as she was used to.”
Coles’ father-in-law is not the only
elderly person to despair life out of
the fast lane. Rita Goodman, co-
ordinator of Seniors Serving Seniors,
worked at a geriatric facility long
before she had any association with
the senior’s volunteer service. She
remembers a man who, in his late
70s, was first notable among facility
residents because he had a car (a
possession not usually owned by
residents because there was little
available parking). After he’d given
Tides to people there was a consensus
that he was incapable of driving the
car. Three accidents in three months
left little doubt about the man’s skills
and Rita Goodman phoned the police.

“They were very quick to pass the
buck,” she says. “I called after he’d
had an accident in Oak Bay and the
city police said it was Oak Bay’s baby.
So nothing was done. But his third
accident, which was in Nanaimo, tot-
alled the car and he couldn’t drive any
more. The problem took care of itself.”
For the drivers who dodged and
cursed the accident-prone individual,
however, the problem might be how to
understand why the man continued to
drive.

“Driving was his
lifeline. If he didn’t
have a car he
couldn’t go places
and he liked to visit
up-Island, to go out
for dinner . . . he
wasn't willing to
give up all the
things he’d been
doing for so long.
Not even the acci-
dents convinced

him.”

Goodman considers the driver’s ob-
stinacy to be atypical. Most people,
she says, are wise enough to realize
when they should stop driving. “I hear

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