Psychology 459 Fall 2001G-15

Instructor: Dr. Leon James

J. Peter Rothe’s The Safety of Elderly Drivers is a book that educates the general public on the many different issues that the elderly face while behind the wheel in today’s modern driving society. Rothe discusses the many different aspects of elderly driving in relation to the age of the elderly. The book contains everything from surveys and statistics, to question and answer forums with the elderly drivers themselves. The book also covers a wide spectrum of topics, which include, traffic accidents, the possible factors attributed to them, accident prevention, post-accident treatment, and the concerns of the elderly driver. Overall Rothe does an adequate assessment of the experience of the elderly driver, as well as the possible thoughts of the drivers other citizens that come into contact with them on our roadways.

Relevance

The safety of elderly drivers is definitely a topic that is truly relevant in our society today. The safety of all drivers is a topic that is of high importance for that matter. Driver safety in general is always going to be a topic of public concern as long a there continues to be an abundance of traffic collisions and fatalities which will undoubtedly continue far into our future. To know how the elderly drive and their train of thinking is key for all of us who spend many hours of our lives on America’s roadways. Rothe’s book informs us about such things. We learn everything from when and why they drive, to why they drive the way they do.

There is much to gain from reading this book. While this book might be a little to difficult for young children to comprehend, everyone from teenagers who have or who are about attain their driver’s licenses to elderly drivers themselves should read this book. By reading this book, young people can learn the different experiences that the elderly go through. It is essential for the young people to be educated about this because while they are today’s young, they will one day be tomorrow’s elderly.

As much as the young drivers need to read this book, so do middle aged drivers. They will become elderly drivers much sooner than the young drivers and by reading this book they might be able to ease their transition into the becoming an elderly driver. It might seem as the though the relevance of reading Rothe’s book might appear in all driver’s future’s, but that is not completely true. There are immediate benefits to reading this book. Knowing the plight of the elderly driver and what they go through every time they are on the road and why, can help us see the other side of the story so to speak. Just as it is of great importance while driving to know what the other person is thinking, it is essential to also know what elderly drivers are thinking. After all, they are on our roadways along side us and becoming more educated about them can only in time help us as individual drivers.

Problems

Many of the problems the elderly face while being drivers on the roadways are just related to aging in general. As time goes by, the elderly tend to diminish physically. Their reaction times become slower and their bodies become weaker making them more susceptible to injury and death. Besides physical problems, the elderly sometimes have cognitive problems. Such examples of cognitive problems are slower thinking and problems with timing and judgment. Physical and cognitive problems are key issues that are discussed in the book. While these problems are solely due to aging, Rothe discusses how they affect the elderly while driving. Many of the problems that were discussed have been speculated as factors in accidents and “near misses.” They affect the elderly drivers by at times frustrating them and giving them emotional discomfort. Being that the elderly do not want to feel dependant on someone, such problems can lead to elderly drivers loosing their self-esteem as drivers.

Solutions

There were many possible solutions to these problems. While middle-aged drivers and lawmakers proposed many of the solutions, the elderly came up with some of their own possible solutions. Many of the elderly drivers stated that to accommodate their own diminishing abilities, they simply picked and chose when to go out to drive and in what conditions. They tended to make decisions as to when they felt comfortable driving. Some proposals that other people had regarding elderly drivers, were to make them take specific license renewal tests, informative driver’s education classes, and to also make them take physical exams to ensure their physical health and abilities. Some proposals said that elderly should be tested annually while other proposals stated that the elderly should be tested when they in fact become seniors. While these tests and classes would seem like a hassle for the elderly, there could be incentives that could come along with going to get their tests taken and their physical examinations done. Such incentives could include such things as lower insurance rates or other senior benefits.

Concerns

Aside from concerns such as diminishing physical and cognitive abilities, the safety of the elderly was a big concern. The possibility of the elderly driver being a hazard to others on the roads was not a major concern. The actual safety of the elderly drivers themselves was more of a concern. While elderly drivers at times might be the cause of accidents, the major concern here is not they’re being the cause of the accidents it is more so they’re being the victims of accidents. The elderly are undoubtedly frail and vulnerable to everything from high velocity collisions to minor fender-benders. The elderly have trouble withstanding such things collisions and the deployment of airbags. Besides these physical concerns, the elderly also have a tough time seeing and interpreting such things as street signs and signals. “The effect of low light levels and slippery roads overtax the abilities of a number of elderly drivers to perform the driving task effectively” (Rothe, 94).

To address some of these concerns, car manufacturers are continuously taking steps to making cars safer for the elderly to drive. They are making cars that handle better, equipping cars with anti lock breaks, brighter head lights, and driver friendly consoles that make everything in closer vicinity to the driver. Aside from car manufacturers helping to address the concerns of the elderly, cities are also doing their part to help out. Many city roadways are being equipped with brighter and larger street signs and traffic signals making it easier for the elderly to maneuver the streets.

Another concern among the elderly was discrimination. While many people might feel as though most elderly drivers seem unfit to be on the roads because they are believed to be hazardous to others, many elderly drivers are actually among the safest driver on our roads. Many elderly drivers expressed feelings of discomfort when confronted by other drivers with whom they were involved in traffic accidents with and the investigative police officers on the scene. The elderly mainly felt uncomfortable with them because they felt as though they would not get a fair chance to tell their side of the story simply because of their age. While many elderly drivers felt that they were discriminated against, the book surprisingly stated that a ratio of nearly 10 to 1 felt that they were treated fairly by the handling police officers.

Enjoyment of the book

I found the book highly enjoyable and informative. It covered everything from elderly driver’s habits to stereotypes about elderly drivers. One stereotype that was dispelled for me personally was one that elderly drivers are slow drivers. Rothe stated that the elderly were at times speeders themselves. “The generally accepted stereotype of elderly drivers as slowpokes makes it a little difficult to conceive of them as speeders. Whereas in focus groups over half the elderly indicated that they were likely to speed” (Rothe, 252). I also found the interviews conducted with the elderly driver amusing. Some of the things that they stated about their reasons for the accidents and their accusations of fault were highly amusing. Those were fun to read. While I found that the interviews were interesting and informative and clearly the strength of the book, the statistics that were presented in the book were somewhat questionable. Many of the statistics that were presented could have easily been misleading to readers. That was one definite weakness I found with Rothe’s book. Many of the actual numbers in the statistics could have been misrepresented.

Conclusion

Many young drivers will in time become the elderly driver discussed in Rothe’s book and so will the middle aged. It is key for us to understand and realize that the elderly are among us on the roads and that they are a special group of drivers with special concerns and needs. With medicine becoming more effective and emergency reaction time becoming swifter, it is a fact that there will be an abundance of us becoming the increasingly elderly while still driving behind the wheel of our vehicles. That is why reading this book can help us understand and make clearer the experience of elderly driving. Knowing what an elderly driver goes through and what he or she is thinking can only help the rest of us to become more safer and better drivers. The knowledge that can be acquired from reading The Safety of Elderly Drivers is immeasurable. Knowing why an elderly person drives the way he or she does and their thinking just might possibly help prevent many accidents and collisions that may take the life of the elderly as well as the rest of us. I learned a lot of things from this book. Mainly I learned what it is like to be in the head of an elderly driver and their thoughts, perceptions, and reactions. I learned that to have an impatient attitude with the elderly is wrong and that the way they drive is actually the way that we should all drive. I have discovered that while they may be more involved in minor traffic accidents, they are less likely to be in high-collision type accidents. Being that I am a psychology major this book was related to everything I have learned being in the psych department. This book talked a lot about the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions the elderly have while being motorists. Why they think the way they think and why they act the way they act while driving clearly related to psychology. One of the more interesting topics I found was the topic of intelligence. It was stated that the elderly had more crystallized intelligence that made them more experienced and wiser where as the younger drivers had more fluid intelligence making them have an easier time dealing with problems that occur and allowing them to think quicker. Regardless if you are old or young, if you plan on becoming a motorist, you can benefit from reading this book.