I've got a question
We all talk a lot about getting are elderly off the road and how difficult it is and sometimes it's next to impossible. Im wondering what do you do if you know of an elderly in your area that is driving shouldn't be, is putting everyone in your neighborhood in jeopardy, can you take there licence plate and call motor vehicles, will they do anything?
Yesterday at my mom's foot doctor a man came in , he had no depth perception, all in all he was in really bad shape. He almost fell over reaching for the arm of the chair , and I jumped up to help him before he fell. Then I learned he drove.
What can be done about this when I see it. It happened once before to me, and I found out who his daughter is and where she worked , and a friend called her job. After that I never saw him out driving again. That worked out good for everyone. But this isn't always the case.
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i also wish there was mandatory retesting.
in my dad’s case when he got dementia, i had his neurologist write a letter that my dad was unfit to drive, then my mom sold his car. I got him a non drivers ID after that. But he would still look for excuses to drive or take her keys as he didn’t fully understand or believe any of it.
This one yesterday, was in a local foot doctors, he wasn't familiar to me, but It sounded like he was from my area. It was just so obvious he shouldnt be driving, it wasn't one of those maybe 🤔, kinda feeling, it was more like 🤯🤯🤯 !! I'm just wondering the best thing to do in a case like that.
Seems to be everytime I take Mom to the foot doctor, I'm sitting in the waiting room , helping the older people in and out, holding doors, helping them in their chair, yesterday was the worst!
You can go on to your county's DMV website to see if there's a way to report this person. When I did this for my Aunt (in FL) I had to provide a LOT of info: their name, address, DL #, and dates and details of incidents (proof/evidence). It's worth a try.
People have to remember: it's one thing to have a license cancelled. It's a whole other thing for someone to make sure that elder no longer has access to a vehicle. After my Mom was told she was a high risk driver by the OT and that her primary was going to report her to the Dept of Public Safety (who would then immediately cancel her license) she was enraged and defiantly drove for the rest of the week. I told her I was going to give her the dignity of giving it up on her own: I wasn't going to play games by hiding keys or her car, that I would report her every time I saw her pull out of her driveway (she lives next door to me so I would see her). She went so far as to hide her keys and the car title so I couldn't sell the car. All she did was make a large headache for me when she couldn't remember where she hid the key (I had the spare anyway) and we never did find the title but I got a duplicate at the DMV with my PoA paperwork.
There have been posters on this forum whose parent kept going out and buying new vehicles. It's not the dealerships job to check for "competence".
I wish states would have mandatory retesting (written and on-road) once people pass a certain age. Apparently the Dept of Public Safety isn't really that concerned with actual safety.