Should Elderly Parents near Los Angeles Keep Driving?

November 7, 2013
Elderly Parents Los Angeles Driving Debate

The Car-Keys Debate with Elderly Parents near Los Angeles Continues

You could spend the entire day reading articles on local news websites across the country, detailing accidents caused by seniors who shouldn’t have been driving in the first place. On the other hand, researchers tell us that, as a group, seniors are statistically safer drivers than many others. Your elderly parents near Los Angeles are less likely to cause an accident than teenagers with licenses hot off the press, for example. When is it time to talk to your parents about letting someone else do the driving?

Reasons to Keep Driving

Many elderly drivers are quite competent on the road. After all, they have decades of driving experience, and they are less likely than younger people to be distracted by texting or changing radio stations. And while some of us may get frustrated to find ourselves behind the stereotypical cautious senior driver, the truth is that a “Sunday driver” is much safer than a “lead foot.” Just because your loved one is a certain age doesn’t necessarily mean that they pose a threat to others on the road.

Reasons to Stop Driving

On the other hand, family members need to be alert to signals that driving is no longer safe for their elderly loved ones. If a senior is having trouble remembering how to perform tasks around the house that they’ve done all their life (working the TV remote; finding their way around the kitchen; getting dressed, etc.), then you should assume that forgetfulness will occur behind the wheel too. A single mistake like confusing the accelerator and the brake pedals puts multiple lives in danger immediately.

Eldercare in Los Angeles Provides Safe Transportation

Asking your loved one to give up the car keys doesn’t have to mean confining them to the house. It just means that a younger, more alert driver should act as chauffeur from now on. The busy lives of most adult children of seniors don’t allow them to be on call for transportation all the time, but eldercare in Los Angeles can be. Whether your senior needs to pick up a prescription from the corner drugstore or has a long list of errands for the day, a capable caregiver with an excellent driving record can help.

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