Senior Citizens And Driving

This volume examines issues related to senior citizens and driving.

Senior Drivers! Your future is in jeopardy. A disturbing situation is developing in the United States. Since people are living longer, the number of drivers over 65 is escalating three times as rapidly as the general driving population. Older people have difficulty concentration, shorter attention spans and failing vision among other ailments. Unfortunately this results in frequent driving mishaps, sometimes with catastrophic results. Taking away their driving privileges would deprive them of their self esteem and independence. This could happen if they continued to have accidents caused by their propensity to get distracted easily and lose concentration. Some states have already enacted laws requiring re-exams for seniors. No doubt many more will follow. Driving slower in traffic is not the answer. This could cause accidents. Driving too fast would be worse since a person’s attention span and reaction time deteriorate with age. It does not matter how skillful he or she once were, aging diminishes skill in almost all areas including the operation of a motor vehicle. Driving today has become more complex as many more cars are on the road. When seniors started to drive, turnpikes and expressways were non existent. After observing the avoidable accidents seniors were having, and realizing how their ranks were exploding, I decided to write “The Senior Driver’s Survival Guide” – subtitled What You Must Know to Protect Your Driving Privileges. Its contents can enable older drivers to drive with a more acute awareness and help them to be better drivers in their “Golden” years. It is an important book which has the power to change and save lives.

Discover how you can earn $35 to $60 an hour driving seniors to medical appointments. This fast-growing service business is needed every day in every town and you can get started on a shoestring. One in five seniors does not drive and many of those may be forced to stay home due to lack of transportation and miss a medical appointment or be unable to shop for groceries. A private senior transportation service helps those seniors get around easily.In addition, the federal government now requires that state medicaid programs cover the cost of transportation to medical appointments. This has created even more opportunities for local senior transportation businesses.A senior transportation can be started with very little money - if you have a reliable car and a cellphone, you're almost there. The rewards are great - not just in dollars and cents - but in helping seniors live better lives by helping them enjoy their independence as long as possible. That's priceless.What is an N.E.M.T. vehicle? Unlike some specialized medical transportation vehicles - like an ambulance - a basic senior ride service does not require a special vehicle to transport seniors. There are far more seniors who are able to walk and just need a ride on a regular basis. NEMT is short for non-emergency medical transport. The name means exactly that - unlike an ambulance, your vehicle, whether a car, SUV or minivan, is an NEMT vehicle if you are taking passengers to and from medical appointments. You won't need to buy an expensive new van or specialized equipment, because you can focus on where there is a steady demand - transporting seniors who are able to walk. ( The medical term is "ambulatory")The opportunities are wide open in this fast-growing field, and so is the potential for an above-average income that's recession-proof. At current rates, a six-figure income is not uncommon for full-time drivers.If you've always wanted to be your own boss, running a business that makes a positive difference in people's lives every day, and are a caring person, take the first step by reading my step-by-step guide. The advice you'll find in the book will give you a head start, reduce risk, and cut startup costs. So you can get started right away, the book also contains a list of major transportation brokers who hire local drivers in all states.

Affordable, easy-to-use, and flexible transportation options are vital to older adults' quality of life. Community Mobility: Driving and Transportation Alternatives for Older Persons provides physical and occupational therapists with recent research findings on older driver assessment, remediation/rehabilitation, and the use of alternatives to the car in the event that older adults need to “retire” from driving. This unique book addresses changes in driving patterns over time, the impact of climate conditions on driving, mental and physical health issues, self-regulation by drivers, and driver safety. Community Mobility addresses changes in driving patterns over time, the impact of climate conditions on driving, mental and physical health issues, self-regulation by drivers, and driver safety. This unique book also includes summaries of recent consensus conferences held in the United States and Canada to determine the best approaches to therapist services and counseling. Community Mobility examines: the effect of alternative forms of transportation on drivers in declining mental and physical health safety interventions the relationship between chronic illness and an elderly driver’s “home range” road conditions versus driving patterns factors that can act as predictors in mobility patterns self-regulation and adaptation strategies effective remediation techniques a comprehensive driving evaluation (CDE) and much more! Community Mobility is an essential resource for anyone working with elderly drivers who face the loss of independence and the decreased access to social activities, medical services, and other basic needs that accompany “retirement” from the driver’s seat.

Emerging and currently available technologies offer great promise for helping older adults, even those without serious disabilities, to live healthy, comfortable, and productive lives. What technologies offer the most potential benefit? What challenges must be overcome, what problems must be solved, for this promise to be fulfilled? How can federal agencies like the National Institute on Aging best use their resources to support the translation from laboratory findings to useful, marketable products and services? Technology for Adaptive Aging is the product of a workshop that brought together distinguished experts in aging research and in technology to discuss applications of technology to communication, education and learning, employment, health, living environments, and transportation for older adults. It includes all of the workshop papers and the report of the committee that organized the workshop. The committee report synthesizes and evaluates the points made in the workshop papers and recommends priorities for federal support of translational research in technology for older adults.

Social isolation and loneliness are serious yet underappreciated public health risks that affect a significant portion of the older adult population. Approximately one-quarter of community-dwelling Americans aged 65 and older are considered to be socially isolated, and a significant proportion of adults in the United States report feeling lonely. People who are 50 years of age or older are more likely to experience many of the risk factors that can cause or exacerbate social isolation or loneliness, such as living alone, the loss of family or friends, chronic illness, and sensory impairments. Over a life course, social isolation and loneliness may be episodic or chronic, depending upon an individual's circumstances and perceptions. A substantial body of evidence demonstrates that social isolation presents a major risk for premature mortality, comparable to other risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, or obesity. As older adults are particularly high-volume and high-frequency users of the health care system, there is an opportunity for health care professionals to identify, prevent, and mitigate the adverse health impacts of social isolation and loneliness in older adults. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults summarizes the evidence base and explores how social isolation and loneliness affect health and quality of life in adults aged 50 and older, particularly among low income, underserved, and vulnerable populations. This report makes recommendations specifically for clinical settings of health care to identify those who suffer the resultant negative health impacts of social isolation and loneliness and target interventions to improve their social conditions. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults considers clinical tools and methodologies, better education and training for the health care workforce, and dissemination and implementation that will be important for translating research into practice, especially as the evidence base for effective interventions continues to flourish.

As people age, their physical, visual, & cognitive abilities may decline, making it more difficult for them to drive safely. Older drivers are also more likely to suffer injuries or die in crashes than drivers in other age groups. These safety issues will increase in significance because older adults represent the fastest-growing U.S. population segment. This report examined: (1) what the fed. gov¿t. has done to promote practices to make roads safer for older drivers & the extent to which states have implemented those practices; (2) the extent to which states assess the fitness of older drivers & what support the fed. gov¿t. has provided; & (3) what initiatives selected states have implemented to improve the safety of older drivers. Includes recommendations. Illustrations.

The Senior Sleuth's Guide to Technology for Seniors provides an overview of products that help make senior citizens' lives more graceful, independent, invigorating and fun. In this book, the Senior Sleuth will investigate computers, the Internet, and modern technologies related to health and medication management, independent living, communication, travel and transportation, and home entertainment. This lighthearted reference book provides both seniors and their caregivers with a comprehensive look at the types of technologies being produced for their specific needs.