THE SAFETY OF
ELDERLY DRIVERS: YESTERDAY’S YOUNG IN
TODAY’S TRAFFIC
BY JOHN
PETER ROTHE
REVIEWED BY ALYSSA CHUN
(TRANSACTION PUBLISHERS 1990)
PSYCH 459—FALL 2001—G15
DR. LEON JAMES, INSTRUCTOR
MY RATING: óóóóó
THE SAFETY OF ELDERLY DRIVERS
RELATING TO CHILDREN
THE SAFETY OF ELDERLY DRIVERS
RELATING TO THE MEDIA
THE SAFETY OF ELDERLY DRIVERS
RELATING TO EDUCATION
THE SAFETY OF ELDERLY DRIVERS
RELATING TO PSYCHOLOGY
THE SAFETY OF ELDERLY DRIVERS
RELATING TO PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH
OTHER REVIEWS ON THE SAFETY OF
ELDERLY DRIVING: YESTERDAY’S YOUNG IN TODAY’S TRAFFIC
INTRODUCTION
With the
number of elderly drivers increasing in the United States, this book is of
great value to us today. It provides a
much-needed insight into understanding the attitudes, rationalizations, and
behavior of drivers, especially elderly drivers. The Safety of Elderly Drivers presents the relative social
factors that influence or determine various thoughts, feelings, and actions
among the elderly. These descriptions
are supported by realistic accounts and reports of statistical analyses of the
author’s research throughout the text and possesses unrelenting overlap.
The
Safety of Elderly Drivers written by Rothe is a very informative book for drivers of all
ages although it targets middle-aged drivers.
I say middle-aged drivers because many of the younger generation of
drivers are not too interested in the psychology behind driving—and many are
egocentric. Many elderly drivers as
Rothe explains, do not see a problem with their driving—it’s everyone else who
is at blame or who are poor drivers.
What I found to be interesting though was that the seniors who claimed
to alleviate themselves of fault were the very ones, whom in most cases, were
at fault.
This text moves away from the boundaries of the
traditional view of the characteristics of elderly drivers. Rather, it integrates the problems with
regard for elderly commuting as a process in which the driver perceives their
individual abilities and disabilities and how this perception is related to
their understanding of such views, as a product of their behavior. It provides a sense of how the elderly
employ vehicles today and how its limited use with age relates to adjustment in
their routine activities and situations.
Ten chapters thoroughly examine the various aspects of elderly commuting
by physical and mental health, perceptions, and regulations, and the author
proposes possible solutions such as more stringent licensing procedures, better
education, public awareness, etc. to sustain the safety of elderly
drivers.
THE SAFETY OF
ELDERLY DRIVERS RELATING TO CHILDREN
I don’t think that The Safety of Elderly Drivers would be appropriate for children per se for the simple fact
that they would not understand the wording or the focus of the book. However, this text may be suitable to
children if their parents or grandparents read it as they are the ones who
usually chauffeur their children and need to be aware of elderly driver
behavior including possible consequences and risks. This awareness could promote the safety of everyone including
the children and the elderly.
From another perspective, if children are aware of the
problems that the elderly may encounter, it will help them to gain a better
understanding on how to cater to the driving needs of the elderly when they are
old enough to drive and maybe even when they become an elderly driver, they may
be more prepared and aware to handle certain driving situations.
THE SAFETY OF
ELDERLY DRIVERS RELATING TO THE MEDIA
The media plays a strong role in the perceptions that
society hold toward elderly drivers and how the elderly view themselves.
The media plays up the younger generation instead of the older. When we see commercials for automobiles or
commercials in general, we rarely see elderly actors; they are usually
children, teenagers, young adults, or middle aged. Why? Maybe companies feel
that elderly actors will not promote appeal to their product in today’s society
or that the elderly aren’t important enough to direct focus to. I think that if the media incorporates the
elderly into their commercials in a positive way, it may have a profound effect
on how society views them.
Chapter ten, “Recommendations” states, “We know that the
elderly use three major channels of communication for keeping abreast with
changes. These are newspapers,
radio/television, and word of mouth.”
Because the elderly are accustomed to lifelong learning through
convenient sources, the author suggests, “Ongoing media ads are developed for
the elderly that are simple, honest and direct.” Rothe also suggests that “the ads may take the from of public
service announcements and they should be regular fixtures ingrained into the
media’s schedules.” I agree with this
potential solution to an extent but I don’t think that these ads should be
focused specifically toward the elderly just because they may take offense to
them. Instead, I think that the media
should make public service announcements that are ingrained to the media
schedules, and ads that are directed toward everyone—not just the elderly. I mean let’s face it, regardless of age, no
one is a perfect driver and I think that everyone needs to be aware of the
possible risks, consequences, and corollaries of driving—not just the
elderly. This chapter does though;
present a sort of stepping stone to strengthening the media to advocate safety
on the roads for all drivers.
THE SAFETY OF ELDERLY DRIVERS RELATING TO EDUCATION
The Safety of Elderly Drivers also recommends an
educational traffic safety/driving program be developed that focuses on
defensive driving, the physical nature of aging, myths about elderly drivers,
self esteem, knowledge on traffic laws and an awareness of automobile features and
technology. Dr. Leon James suggests
that lifelong driver education, which proposes a type of driving psychology
curriculum that is introduced in kindergarten and continues explicitly
throughout all levels of education. I
think that lifelong driver education would be a plausible solution to a better
understanding of the needs of elderly drivers.
I would recommend that this book be incorporated into these driver
education programs because it explains valuable information about the
elderly. Much of the problem with
elderly drivers and society alike is the lack of education. If people are better educated on potential
problems on the road as well as within themselves, maybe methods may be
utilized to ensure everyone’s safety.
Rothe conveys the problem of changing traffic laws and awareness of
automobile features and technology.
Although Rothe conveys a good idea, to focus on an education program
targeting the elderly is unfair. All
drivers should be mandated to take an educational traffic safety/driving
program, regardless of age.
THE SAFETY
OF ELDERLY DRIVERS RELATING TO PSYCHOLOGY
Because Rothe examines the various aspects of the safety
of elderly drivers, various branches of psychology are incorporated in his
work. The text examines the cognitive,
sociological, and biological psychology of the elderly relating to my
background as a psychology major.
Since social psychology is the scientific study of how we
think about, influence, and relate to one another, The Safety of Elderly
Drivers provides and in depth look at how younger or middle-aged drivers
perceive elderly drivers and how the elderly perceive themselves according to
these perceptions. It also provides
statements from elderly drivers on their perceptions of the younger generation
of drivers and authorities alike.
With the cognitive aspect of psychology studying the
mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and
communicating information, the text investigates how the elderly think, and
focuses on elderly victims’ interpretations of their misfortunes as pertaining
to their selves, other drivers, roadway environments, lifestyles, and their
ability to remember details after crashes.
With regard to the biological aspect of psychology that
is concerned with the links between biology and behavior, Rothe analyzes the
connection between age related degeneration such as vision depth perception,
glare, visual occlusion, physical frailty such as arthritis, slow reaction
time, and coordination to elderly driving.
This book integrates many fields of psychology into
elderly traffic safety in a reader friendly tenor. I would not only recommend The Safety of Elderly Drivers
to psychology majors, but to everyone.
THE SAFETY OF
ELDERLY DRIVERS RELATING TO PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH
Chapter six
“Trends, Factors and Patterns” acquaints us with the various physical health
problems that many elderly face such as visual problems, hearing, and
reflexes. “Aging means biological
deterioration. Vision, hearing,
reflexes, and so on are not as sharp and distinct in one’s seventies as they
were in one’s twenties. Yet elderly
drivers rated their overall health to be good or excellent.” I thought this quote was very interesting
because with this research came contradictory findings. Through Rothe’s research many of the
elderly reported one of their biggest driving obstacles as nighttime driving or
glare and the inability to turn one’s head to the side. Rothe also appraises the accidents that involved
elderly drivers and attempts to reconstruct them. The scary thing is, that a lot of these accidents were in fact
due to one of the above aforementioned health concerns.
Chapter
nine, “Windows of Change” familiarizes us with characteristics of mental health
rather than physical health. It shows
that many seniors rely on their automobiles for autonomy, independence, and
survival. This is a very important
point because once these privileges are taken away through revoking of
licenses; Rothe establishes that it has a profound effect on the elderly
individual’s emotional health, well-being, and overall life satisfaction. This chapter taught me to look at the car as
more than just a mode of transportation and actually a symbol of independence
and integrity that I was unacquainted with previous to reading this book.
Chapter eight, “Victims of Serious Crashes” expresses how
many elderly feel that they are discriminated against while driving, if they do
get into an accident they may feel that their opinions will not be listened to
because of their age. “ But, not surprisingly, there were some elderly people
who support the assumption that blame or fault in an accident is unreflectively
attributed to age.”
Paralleling
this concept, Rothe also surveys the effect that societal stereotypes have upon
elderly drivers. He establishes that
many elderly drivers in fact drive the way they do because of these
restrictions and expectations that society places on them. Because there is a negative connotation
toward elderly drivers, the elderly drivers actually believe these connotations
and conform to them accordingly. The
Safety of Elderly Drivers clearly demonstrates this.
OTHER REVIEWS ON THE SAFETY OF ELDERLY DRIVING: YESTERDAY’S
YOUNG IN TODAY’S TRAFFIC
Not available.
