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Any ideas on how to keep a dementia spouse from trying to open his passenger door while driving on highway?

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I think he now needs to ride in the back seat with childproof locks on the doors.
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Beev1952 May 2019
My thoughts too, but his rollator walker fits the entire back seat. May need a different walker. Thanks.
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Your profile says "I am caring for my mother Mary, who is 97 years old, living at home with age-related decline, alzheimer's / dementia, anxiety, broken hip, urinary tract infection, and vision problems." And your husband also has dementia?

Put duct tape over the inside of the door handle so that he cannot use it. That way, the passenger door can only be opened from the outside.
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gdaughter May 2019
I've heard of this duct tape idea...I'd get a color that matches or blends so it becomes more invisible. At least you'll know they are going to attempt it with some warning if the tape has to come off first!
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You can use the child locks and make him sit in the back seat. You can also get a mechanic to disable the lock mechanism on the passenger side so that it only opens from the outside. We have done both.
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Put the window locks on too.
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Maybe maybe childproof the door locks and sit him in the back. Though I know that's easier said than done.
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If you take the basket off most rollators should fold up enough fit in upright behind the driver's seat.
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Have child locks installed or Bring someone to keep an eye on him...He will only Grow worse though....
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Do you have kiddi locks on the doors or driver operated central locking? If not for front passenger door but on rear then maybe he has to travel in the rear from now on.
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The only thing you can do, is to completely remove the handle from all passenger doors as we have with police vehicles. otherwise you'll need to pull your power locks fuse, which removes your driver ability to lock that suicide door. Front passenger doors usually don't have the manual childlocking mechanism, at least that's been true for all of my personal Swedish imports, your local dealership might have more answers, including the ability to pull the correct wire to disable his use of his door's power lock...yet he can pull that lock manually too; he's old so he'll yank it up to unlock that door. Police vehicles don't have that manual lock visible or accessible. your dealership can remove it. A 5 point harness seatbelt is another option in the front passenger seat. BEST = shoving a hostile passenger into the backseat as is done in law enforcement and taxis, that's is statistically the safest, but you must remove all handles, that open all backseat doors. and you must manually flip the childlocking mechanism And you might eventually need a cage between the front and back areas to keep him from attacking you while driving; consider him a hostile passenger, protect him and protect yourself. I missed seeing the type of vehicle in which he does this; it sounds small since you wrote that his equipment sits in your back seat,no trunk? that "roller" is secondary and should be considered after you secure your living beings. His roller will fit on an exterior bike-rack. Have you considered purchasing an old crown vic, from a police auction??
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Child locks! This happened to me with a kid who had autism. He opened the doors while I was driving. Terrified me! I always had the child locks on after that incident.

His mom said he did that occasionally. Well, I wish she had warned me about it. She always sat in the backseat with him so fortunately she grabbed him and I immediately put the child locks on. It’s scary!
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