Old is an imminent stage of life. The old age takes a toll on the physical and mental capabilities of a person. The body loses its vigor and strength. Moreover the nervous system becomes less active to stimulus and creating a reflex. Hence in old age person tends to loose his alertness levels and speed of reflexes. Somewhere he also loses his ability to take prompt and correct decision. All these limitations limit the driving capabilities of a driver. Hence drivers should be even more cautious in their old age than they were in their youth.
The effects of old age
The body loses its capabilities drastically as the old age falls in. This is particularly marked with poor vision, poor audible reception, slow reflexes and ability to think and judge properly. All these parameters are considered to be of utmost importance for driving skills. Also the old experience fatigue very much early than their young counterparts. They observe neck, knee and shoulder pains after small durations of drive. Leg pains incurred due to sitting in a single position for few minutes can hamper their ability to apply brakes. All these can distract the attention of the driver off the road leading to a possible mishap. It is obvious that at the old age body looses its ability to bear stress and hence is not for driving in many ways.
Things to remember
Considering so many physical shortcomings, old age people should follow certain regime so that his shortcomings will not affect his driving skills.
- The old people who wish to keep driving should go for regular checkups and get themselves checked for vision, hearing and motor reflexes.
- They should also make attempts to learn defensive driving which is an art of driving making correct decisions regardless of the mistakes done by others in order to save life, time and money.
- If they are undergoing any medication, they should ensure that they take it before going for a drive. Having any medical emergency conditions in middle of driving can be very fatal for both the driver and other people on road.
- If the old person feels that he is tired during driving, he should stop his vehicle at somewhere safe and rest for a while before going for a drive again.
- They should hire a driver or use a public transport if going on long journeys.
- There are many safe cars coming in the market loaded with safety features. Though they are expensive but provides best safety features.
The old people should quit being stubborn and accept the fact that it is not safe for them to drive after reaching a certain age which differs from person to person. It is in the benefit of both the old age person and other fellow people driving or commuting on the roads.