Safety tips for older drivers
Collaborative Post
Many people wish to keep the independence of driving as they age. However, there are some considerations to be made. If you wish to continue driving as an elderly person, it’s a good idea to be aware of the risks and the safety precautions too. We all age differently, and our reaction times can end up slowing down as we age. With this in mind, here are a few ideas about how to ensure that you stay safe.
Regular health checks
It’s vital to keep up with your regular health checks if you wish to keep driving. Ensure that you get your eyes checked often. This will make certain that your eyes are fit for the roads and allow you to get new lenses or glasses should you need them. When you drive, keep your mirrors and windscreen very clean so that you can always see correctly. On your dashboard, ensure that the brightness is turned up!
As well as this, if you wear a hearing aid, make sure that you wear it while you drive and have it checked often to ensure that it is working properly.
Discuss driving with your doctor so that you can ensure that certain medications will not interfere with your ability to drive. You’ll need to make certain that you get plenty of sleep as driving while fatigued can be very dangerous.
Set boundaries
When you get older, your body and mind will go through changes, and so it’s important that you know your limits and set some boundaries. It’s a good idea to make changes to your driving to as you get older. For example, you might want to avoid driving in hazardous weather conditions such as snow, heavy rain, or storms. You might have been confident to drive in snow as a younger person, yet now it may not be so easy. It’s better to drive only in daylight hours if you can help it and to avoid bigger roads with lots of fast traffic. Ask yourself if you always need to drive or if there are some destinations that you could take a walk to instead.
Driving course
If you have worries about your driving, it could be a good idea to take a refresher course to help you. Many older drivers find that they benefit from fine-tuning their skills and that taking a course makes it easier to gain a little more confidence. Speak to your family and friends about your driving. They will be able to let you know if they think that there may be a problem and provide you with some advice. Your doctor could also help you to discuss any concerns that you may have. It’s normal for older people to feel some anxiety about driving. It doesn’t matter what car you have, from a used range rover to a new tesla, ensure that you have it serviced often so that all is in good working order.
Lastly, drive as vigilantly as you can, don’t assume the skills of others and remain cautious at all times. Getting older doesn’t have to mean giving up driving. If you stay on top of your health checks, consider a refresher course and drive carefully, you’ll have an excellent chance of staying safe.
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