ORAL REPORTS: APRIL 5th , 19th and 26th , 2001
Jennifer Dahlin
April 5th Text pp. 229-254
Post-Accident
Treatment by Officials pp.231-239
Elderly drivers are aware of the stigma that other drivers have of them. They know that most people consider them to be poor drivers and prone to causing accidents. Because of this awareness, elderly drivers are some what hesitant when dealing with police officers at the accident site. However most elderly drivers in the focus group did not feel any anxiety when dealing with police officials. They were confident that the police would treat them with fairness and respect. But there were some elderly individuals that were convinced that police officers will always blame the elderly driver because of predetermined assumptions about elderly drivers. This small group decided that the elderly driver will be treated more severely at the accident site than a younger driver in the same situation.
An elderly woman recounted her accident to an interviewer: "... they all talked and whispered among themselves and treated me as if I was you know a criminal. Then the police came and he was handed all the data that the other fellow had taken down and completely ignored me" (P.232). This woman is saying that her statement was not even taken. The police simply gathered the details from the other person, no matter how biased it could have been.
Police officers at the Site of the Accident p.233
Police officers has three objectives when attending a crash scene: to offer assistance where needed, to reconstruct the event and to lay charges where warranted. The police version of the accident is the official account of what happened.
Elderly drivers say that police arrive at the scene with predefined mind sets of what happened. In sum, police officers usually assign the blame of the accident to the elderly driver. Elderly drivers contend that because of these notions already assumed it is very difficult to tell their story or even be allowed to tell what happened.
Even though there are some elderly drivers that consider the police to be brutal and uncaring, the majority of the elderly drivers surveyed think that the police are doing a good job when dealing with elderly drivers. It seems that for every ten elderly drivers that rate police as good there is one elderly driver that rates them poorly.
In my opinion, the small group of elderly drivers are right in being hesitant and anxious when engaging police at the accident scene. There is a stigma about elderly drivers and I am sure it influences the police judgement.
Elderly Drivers as Safe Drivers
Elderly drivers view themselves as very safe drivers. Even when they get into an accident, they still view themselves as good drivers. They attribute the accident to unusual circumstances or a freak occurrence.
There are nine points that elderly drivers express as evidence for their good driving skills. These nine points are usually expressed by elderly drivers that were in an injury producing accident. It is almost as if the elderly drivers are proving themselves to the listener. As if he or she is giving testimony to their superior driving skills that should over shadow the fact that they were involved in an automobile accident.
1. I Am a Safe Driver Because I Am Watchful. It is assumed that if you watch for "the other guy", on coming traffic and or your rear view mirror you are a good driver.
2. I Am a Safe Driver Because I Never Speed or Hardly Ever Speed. "I never speed" was used often by elderly drivers as evidence of their good driving behavior.
3. I Am a Safe Driver Because I Keep an Appropriate Distance between Cars. Some elderly drivers think that the very definition of being a safe driver is the amount of space left between cars. However Rothe is not sure what is a safe distance between cars, he states that it is a judgement call made by each driver.
4. I'm a Safe Driver Because I Drive Defensively.
5. I'm a Safe Driver Because of My Successful Driving History. To be accident free or ticket free is the mark of a good driver. Many elderly drivers deem themselves to be safe if they have a clear or relatively clear driving record.
6. I'm a Safe Driver Because I Obey Traffic Signs. These drivers says they always follow the traffic laws, for instance: stop at stop signs, signal early and come to a full stop.
7. I'm a Safe Driver Because I Keep My Car in Good Shape.
8. I'm a Safe Driver Because I Don't Like In-Car Activities. Doing other things while driving is considered to be risky because it takes the drivers attention away from the road, other cars and driving.
9. I'm a Safe Driver Because of the Many Activities in Which I Engage. These drivers are vigilant drivers, they watch for obstacles, driver behaviors and traffic circumstances.
In conclusion, I agree with the nine points that elderly drivers use to prove that they are good, safe drivers. Of course accidents can happen to anyone, but if one practices all or most of the nine points he is more likely to avoid accidents and even traffic tickets.
The Politics of Aging pp. 321
Since the elderly population is so large and getting larger their political impact is and can be very significant, says Dobson in 1983.
Age and Political Participation
Studies have shown that political participation declines with age, at around fifty to sixty years of age political participation starts to decline. However, follow up studies have found that the downward turn is not totally accurate. When sex and level of education is held constant across the subjects, political participation does not change. For instance if I person is involved in politics in adulthood, he will most likely still be politically involved in his mature adult years.
Glenn and Grimes (1969) actually found an upward trend in political interest. The findings suggest that as people age they become more interested in political events. I can certainly vouch for that, my grandparents were very interested in current events and read the newspaper every day and knew what was going on in our country as well as other major countries featured in the paper.
Rothe also suggests that elderly participation in politics will only increase because of the rising socioeconomic levels of the emerging elderly. Studies have shown that the more educated a person is, the more they are politically aware and involved. Rothe states that the coming of age elderly are more educated than previous generations of elderly persons. In the 1950's only 20% of the elderly population held high school diplomas, where as in the 1970's, some 40 years later, 85% of the elderly population held high school diplomas.
Rothe further predicts that the elderly will have and do have more political clout than ever before. He attributes this to the elderly's increased health and wealth. Because of this wealth the elderly are able to financially back political candidates. Which in turn helps the elderly because candidates must address elderly issues or must be sympathetic to the problems of the elderly in order to be supported by the elderly.
Age and Political Attitude
As voters the elderly are most thought as being very conservative. And young people are usually considered as liberal and quick to change from one party to another. However, Cutler in 1980 found that elderly people and younger people really didn't differ on their flexibility. Actually the study found that elderly people can be more liberal on certain issues that involve self interest, than young people.
My View
I agree that the elderly people have a big impact in politics. I think it is a good thing that their numbers and their clout are rising because if they didn't advocate for them selves and their issues who would?