My mother (who lived with us for many years near the end) was utterly resistant about giving up driving. Hubby did something to her car, so it wouldn’t start, and for a few weeks we would tell her things like it was taking forever for a needed part to get in, or that they’d sent the wrong model and we were waiting on an exchange. Then we sold her car discreetly, and from then until she eventually stopped asking about it we told her ‘it’s in the shop for repairs.’
She still had her license, but with no access to a car it didn’t matter.
From a legal standpoint, how did you manage that? Was your name on the title? This has always struck me as a concern, when the only way to prevent the adult from driving is to make the car go away.
We sold her car to the child of some long time friends, with everyone (except Mom) involved knowing what was going on. I don’t remember exactly what we told her she was signing her name for, some routine thing no doubt.
Er. I wonder what the statute of limitations is for this? It was quite a long time ago now, there was never any complications, and both my mother and the car are no longer alive, so…
Well, you specified a driver who thinks they are no longer safe. This could mean someone who can’t manage a mile in broad daylight, or someone who simply feels there are occasional circumstances that tax their abilities.
I’ve known several older folks who voluntarily given up driving. None felt they were hopeless (nor had they had driving issues that suggested as much) - they basically felt they might not handle stressful circumstances well.
Since we’re in a very expensive area, moving to somewhere like midtown Harrisburg, PA would be way cheaper than where we are now and has decent medical facilities. I’d be willing to give up driving if my wife and/or kids think it’s time. My Mom gave up hers on her own, but Dad needed some prodding. My brother did the driving for them the few years they couldn’t.
Sure, but who goes to the DMV for an exciting day of adventure if they don’t have to? Especially if you are too old to make getting there an hour before opening and getting in line an option.
That depends on the state - if I want to exchange my license for a non-driver ID I can do it by mail. It’s easier than renewing my license which requires an eye test.
I’m 73, with Parkinson’s Disease. PD affects reaction time, and because of that, Mrs. Nott thought I should hang up the keys. I asked my neurologist, who is a specialist in PD. I was referred to an occupational therapist who evaluates such patients. She ran me through several tests of physical strength, depth perception, and reaction time, then we went for a 45-minute drive around the area, on city streets and highways. When it all was added up, she proclaimed me safe to drive.
Because I’m aware of the slow reaction time, I am very cautious behind the wheel…
My health insurance paid for most of it, and I forget what the out-of-pocket expense was.
Funny that you mention Harrisburg - as that’s where I grew up (in one of the nearby townships, that is).
We sold my mother’s house, on over an acre of land, back in 2005 - for less than half what we paid for our DC-suburban, postage-stamp-lot house 3 years earlier.
Bus transportation near where I grew up was nonexistent, but I suspect it would be much better closer in (even if not actually in the city limits). I never had any reason to explore taxi service availability.
All in all, it wouldn’t be a bad place to consider for retirement. There are 3 major hospitals in (or just across the river from) the city, plus Hershey Medical Center a few miles further. There’s a lot more cultural activities than I recall from when I was growing up. You don’t want waterfront property, given increasingly instable weather (I remember Hurricane Agnes’s flooding quite well), though “waterfront” is a bit of a flexible definition, as shown by these images of Hersheypark turning into a waterpark!
We’ve seen the marks on one of the bridges showing how high the water has reached. We’d want to be a few block inland. It also looks like the flooding risk gets worse the further south you go. The latest US News and World rankings for retirement places (for what that’s worth) has Lancaster first and Harrisburg second. The only thing that would make us mark Harrisburg off our list would be if Mastriano is elected governor. It looks like a well kept rowhouse in midtown would cost less than half what our home in the DC suburbs would fetch.
Central Pennsylvania, to me, is a less hot version of the deep south. We’d drive up 15 taking our son to school in Ithaca. It’s beautiful, but I wouldn’t shed tears if I couldn’t drive there at some point.
Sure, but all the hypotheticals where the situation is dire enough that an unsafe driver should operate a vehicle are also situations that are dire enough that an unlicensed driver should operate a vehicle. So there’s no particular reason to let an unsafe driver keep their license “just in case.”
I’m 76 and have often wondered how I would do if I ever had the chance to get back on the race track. I think I would be a bit more cautious but then I was never the " go faster until you crash then back off a bit" kind of a racer.
In the 80s didn’t some car magazine have the idea to put a long retired Jackie Stewart in vintage and modern race cars to compare them, and he just crashed?
A brief search doesn’t bring up anything, so maybe I’m completely misremembering, or maybe this was the plot of one of the Cars sequels.