Driving Longevity: Keeping Fit to Keep the Keys

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Driving Longevity Keeping Fit to Keep the Keys

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Think About Your Favorite Vehicle
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Why Do We Drive?

• Independence
• Freedom
• Convenience
• Connection and
• contribution to the
• community, friends, family
• Respect
• Pride of owning a vehicle

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Changes in Roads

• How are todays cars different ?

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Changes in the Roads

• What about the roads and driving today?
• How has driving changed?

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Changes in Us

• What changes have you noticed?
• What are some of the myths about older drivers?

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Adaptation to Changes

• Personal Limits on Driving
• Avoid driving at night
• Avoid driving in poor conditions (darkness, bad
  weather)
  
• Avoid high traffic times
• Avoid high speed freeways

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What Changes Can Affect Safe Driving for Older
Adults?

• Physical
• Vision
• Strength, flexibility
  and reflexes
  
• Cognitive
• Processing of information
• Environmental
• Cars and drivers
• Roads and traffic
• Services and transportation access

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Vision Changes that Affect Driving

• Vision provides 90 percent of our sensory cues
  for driving
  
• Good vision is more than how far or close we can
  see

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Vision
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Vision

• Vision changes may occur that decrease the
• Ability to determine distance between objects
• Range of vision in front and on both sides to a
  narrow area in front
  
• Speed of visually processing information
• Ability to accommodate to bright lights and
  re-focus the eyes to light or dark conditions

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Mirror Adjustments
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Staying Fit for the RoadTaking Charge

• Mental Vitality Keep Sharp
• Physical Fitness Maintaining Strength,
  Flexibility and Endurance
  
• Medications Evaluating Medications that Affect
  Driving
  
• Alcohol Misuse
• Tune-ups for the Body

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Memory and Cognition

• For some older adults, changes can include
• Reduced short term
• memory abilities and
• skills to compensate
• Reduced speed in
• making decisions
• Difficulty focusing
• attention
• Switching attention from one situation to
• another
• Dividing Attention (Multitasking)

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Staying Mentally Fit

• Practice
• Flexible thinking
• Exercising you senses
• Communicating your
• opinion, thoughts about
• current events, stories
• Using numbers
• Developing strategies through games, civic groups
  or community projects

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Strength, Flexibility and Reflexes

• Aging may bring diminished
• Muscle strength to legs, arms and handgripall
  important for vehicle control
  
• Flexibility to look over the shoulder for
  checking traffic
  
• Reaction time to respond to traffic or road
  hazards
  

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Physical Activity

• Develop your weekly routine that includes
• Strengthening
• Stretching
• Endurance
• Balance development

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Sleep and Rest

• Improve concentration on the road by getting
  enough sleep and rest
  
• Practice habits of sleep health
• Avoid naps
• Develop a regular time to go to bed
• Do some physical activity each day
• Eat a light meal in the evening
• Avoid drinking tea, coffee, or cocoa six hours
  before bedtime

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Sleep and Rest
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Medications

• Older adults may
• Be more susceptible to adverse
• or strong reactions
• Because they may take more medications (both
  prescribed by a doctor and available in drug
  stores) which increases the likelihood for
  interaction
• Because the body may not as effectively use
  medications and reacts more strongly to even
  lower doses

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Medications

• Before getting behind the wheel
• Ask your doctor or pharmacist about possible
  reactions and side effects
  
• Be aware of your reaction to medications,
  vitamins and supplements
  
• Adjust your driving schedule to accommodate the
  reaction

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Alcohol Use

• The Story

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Alcohol Misuse

• For older adults, alcohol is processed more
  slowly than in younger adults and stays in the
  body longer
  
• Use of any amount of alcohol can intensify
  actions of many medications
  
• Possible result drowsiness, disorientation

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Tune-Ups for the Body
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Memory and Attention

• Driving a car requires
• Making decisions
• quickly which
• requires mental alertness
• Switching attention quickly to many situations
  happening on the road
  
• Dividing attention to perform many tasks such as
  steering, shifting gears checking mirrors and
  looking ahead

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Strategies for the Road

• Organize each trip
• Eliminate distractions
• Reduce stress
• Dress for Driving

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Staying Focused

• Eliminate distractions by organizing your trip
• Sunglasses in easy reach
• Money ready for tolls
• Read your map before you start your trip
• Eliminate distraction by controlling your
  environment
  
• Turn down the radio or music
• Ask passengers to keep conversations down
• Watch your temper (no matter how stupid the other
  driver)
  
• Drive on familiar roads

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Strategies for Parking Lots
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Using the Right Tools Car Fitness

• Safety Features on Vehicles
• Adjustments
• Equipment for adapting
• your vehicle

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Using the Right Tools

• What safety features would you like to see on
  your car?

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Using the Right Equipment
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Maintenance that Matters
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Timing Your Moves
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Talking It Over

• How have you planned for your mobility future?

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The Conversation about Driving

• When
• Talk about driving
• before a problem develops
• Why
• The discussion is about your connection to the
  community and your control over your future
  
• Driving discussions affect othersfamilies, loved
  ones and friends and those in the community that
  rely on you
  

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