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Putting the Brakes on Driving

Insight into elders and driving from the Jewish Home Lifecare Research Institute on Aging
Putting the Brakes on Driving
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Putting the Brakes on Driving

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“My wife thinks I should limit my driving at night. As usual, I don’t listen…

Not driving my car makes me feel so helpless, as if I don’t belong in the world.”

When a loved one is no longer able to drive safely, it’s not just what is said, but who says it that matters, according to findings from a just completed study conducted by the Jewish Home Lifecare Research Institute on Aging in collaboration with Lighthouse International and funded by the National Institute on Aging.

Researchers followed older adults with vision loss over the course of two years, and found that when it comes to changes in their driving:

  • Driving cessation is typically a gradual process that involves degrees of self-regulation.
  • Suggestions to stop driving do have an impact, even if it doesn’t seem that way at first.
  • Who’s talking matters: doctors’ and friends were shown to be more influential than family members, even though family members are more likely to suggest driving cessation.
  • Additional analyses of these data suggest that the psychological impact of no longer driving is profound.  Giving up the keys was associated with symptoms of depression which were not attributable to other causes. Interestingly, the importance placed on driving at the beginning of the study did not predict the degree of depression. This suggests that even those who don’t think driving is vital to them are at equal risk as those who do to have some degree of depression when they stop driving.

Source:

Mental Health Consequences of Giving up the Keys: Driving Cessation among Older Adults: Amy Horowitz, DSW, Brent Gibson, PhD, Joann P. Reinhardt, PhD, Kathrin Boerner, PhD

Conversations about Driving with Visually Impaired Older Adults: Brent Gibson, PhD, Amy Horowitz, DSW, Joann P. Reinhardt, PhD, Kathrin Boerner, PhD.  Presented at the 63rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, New Orleans, LA.

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