Elderly Drivers: When to Hang Up the Keys

One of the great things about living in this country is the incredible independence with which we live our lives.  For many people, this independence revolves around being able to travel in a car. It’s not easy to give that freedom up, even if you shouldn’t be driving.  The facts speak for themselves: in an NHTSA study, it was found that senior citizens over 70 represent 9% of all drivers, but are responsible for 18% of pedestrian fatalities.

Driving tests for the elderly are becoming mandatory across the country, but not quickly enough. Moreover, most states only require tests at age 75 when chances are the damage has already been done.  It is infinitely better for an elderly driver to hang up the keys on their own terms rather than being forced to by a state mandate or court order.

“an NHTSA study found that senior citizens over 70 represent 9% of all drivers, but are responsible for 18% of pedestrian fatalities. “

How to approach “The Talk”:
One of the hardest things to do is to confront an elderly loved one about driving. Hold the conversation face-to-face rather than through the phone. Remember to be non-accusatory and objective; use “I” instead of “you” (“I wouldn’t want you to hurt someone innocent” rather than “You’re going to hurt someone”).  

The AARP has a list of 10 warning signs that should lead to the discontinuation of elderly driving; use these as resources to back up your argument if they apply.

1. Almost crashing, with frequent “close calls”
2. Finding dents and scrapes on the car, on fences, mailboxes, garage doors, curbs, or the like
3. Getting lost
4. Having trouble seeing or following traffic signals, road signs, and pavement markings
5. Responding more slowly to unexpected situations, or having trouble moving your foot from the gas to the brake pedal; confusing the two pedals
6. Misjudging gaps in traffic at intersections and on highway entrance and exit ramps
7. Experiencing road rage or having other drivers frequently honk at you
8. Easily becoming distracted or having difficulty concentrating while driving
9. Having a hard time turning around to check over your shoulder while backing up or changing lanes
10. Receiving traffic tickets or “warnings” from traffic or law enforcement officers in the last year or two

 

Even if your loved one will not give up their keys, hopefully they will modify their driving to lessen their chances of an accident (no more road trips, night driving). But whatever they do or do not agree to, start planning alternative transportation so a plan is in place should they need it. That might also facilitate a successful key-hang-up later down the road.

Motorcycle Safety

Image via Wikipedia

With the warmer weather of spring, expect to see more motorcyclists on the road. March 22nd – April 30th was proclaimed Motorcycle Safety Awareness Period by Governor Patrick.  It has been a long winter and riders are eager to get out and enjoy their bikes so please be sure to keep an eye out for them when driving.  Here are some tips for sharing the road with our fellow drivers of the two-wheeled variety:

1. Because of their small size relative to cars, motorcycles look much farther away than they actually are. When at an intersection or when being passed by a motorcycle, assume that the motorcycle is closer than it looks.
2. Also because of their size, motorcycles can be completely hidden in blind spots. Check both blind spots thoroughly when switching lanes. Motorcycles can also be obscured by other moving objects, especially SUVs.
3. Motorcycles commonly slow down by downshifting rather than using the break. Therefore a motorcycle may slow down without its break lights coming on. Allow extra following space when behind a motorcycles to account for this.
4. Unlike cars, motorcycles do not have self-cancelling turn signals; sometimes a rider’s signal will remain on even when they are not making a turn. Keep this in mind and be patient (especially with young, less experienced riders)
5. Although protrayed differently in action movies, motorcycles can not stop “on a dime”. In fact, in poor weather conditions, motorcycles generally take longer to stop than cars, as it is easy to lose control with only two wheels. Never tailgate a motorcycle, even on town roads.
6. Before you use your car’s spray-clean feature to clean your windshield on the road, check to see if there is a motorcyclist behind you. They will not appreciate suddenly entering a rainstorm of dirty windshield fluid that will form behind your car.
7. Never, ever, ever share a lane with a motorcycle.

Here’s a driver’s ed video with tips on sharing the road:

Car Crashes: a word to the wise from the not-so-wise

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Let it be stated for the record that I, Corbin Foucart, am henceforth a TERRIBLE driver. This shall be reflected in both my crushed ego and in my insurance premium. However, until 6:57 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, April 1st 2011, I considered myself a good driver. Why the transformation? Because that morning I took my cherished 1994 Honda CR-V and slammed it into a tree.

Now some explanation. I don’t have the right to make excuses; I was ENTIRELY at fault, BUT…

1. The roads were slippery. It was snowing on April 1st!!
2. The roads on which I drove were untouched by plows.
3. Another student totaled her car on the same road that morning. Misery loves company.
4. I was going around a curve
5. I was going very slowly (Less than 20 mph). The airbags didn’t go off, and there was barely an impact.

…but I know that I should have been traveling even slower.

As I rounded the curve, the Honda began to slip off the road. Threshold braking did not help at all. Under different circumstances, I would have described the “crunch” sound as very satisfying. At the moment, it sounded like the lid of my own coffin closing. I tried shifting into reverse and backing out, but the Honda had grown attached to the tree and was holding it in a twisted metal embrace. So I called home. Uh oh.

My mom actually thought it was an April fool’s joke. I had to repeat myself several times before she understood that I wasn’t pulling her leg.

 I totaled the car; even though it wasn’t that bad of a crash, the undercarriage was bent.

What I find weird is that it wasn’t a stereotypical ‘bad morning’. I’d been accepted by Stanford, my dream school, the day before and that morning I was still running on a feeling of elation.  I was in no rush, and was looking forward to the day. Needless to say, the collision brought me crashing –no pun intended- back down to Earth. In the grand scheme of things, a totaled car is a small price to pay for my sister’s life and my own, but still frustrating nevertheless. The very sobering reality is that now I have no personal freedom to travel where I please. Doing things I took for granted with a car now has to be coordinated in advance.  

An interesting article by Insurance journal (which is worth having your teen read, by the way) states the a new study showed that the vast majority of teen crashes are caused by failing to scan for possible hazards, speeding, or becoming distracted. While I would argue that my personal case falls under the category of “poor weather or road conditions”, which they cite as rare, I know from the vast majority of accidents and fender-benders my peers are involved in that these three causes are legitimate. Another student I know totalled his car earlier in the year going to fast and driving into a rock wall. Another student did the exact same thing last month. Another student I know hit a tree while texting in the car. I’m sure as a reader you can think of countless similar anecdotal evidence to support the article’s conclusions.

The moral of the story to me is that accidents can happen WHENEVER you let your guard down.  Be safe, be vigilant, and as I’ve learned, BE SLOW!

The tree could not be reached for comment.

HALLOWEEN! Spiders & Witches & Goblins, OH MY!

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Halloween can be a fun time for kids and adults alike.  Trick or Treating, Costume Parties,  Bobbing for Apples…..

But along with all this fun, there is the potential for disaster.  Here are some things to consider while celebrating All Hallows Eve:

1)       Check the labels on your kids’ costumes to be sure they are fire proof or at lease fire retardant.

2)      Always have an adult or older sibling accompany young children when they go trick or treating.

3)      Consider applying reflective tape to your childs costume.

4)      Equip your child with a flashlight or other light device.

And of course, there’s all that candy!  While most people enjoy providing treats for the tricksters, there are those devious individuals who do intentional harm.  We’ve all heard the stories of razor blades in apples, alcohol or drugs injected into apples or oranges and of course the poisons added to candy. Your best bet is to advise your child not to eat any of their treats u ntil you have a chance to check them out (good luck with that!).  Better yet, why not host a Halloween party in your home where you have control of what is eaten.  Giving prizes for the best, worst or scariest costumes, bobbing for apples, etc are all sure to keep the kids happy AND SAFE!

Related Articles

• Useful Tips to Keep Halloween Fun, Easy and Safe for Toddlers (halloweenforkids.blogspot.com)

And for scarily helpful resources and insurance information, visit our website or get a quote. Happy Halloween from A G Gordon, Inc!

OUI – A Cautionary Tale

As you may have read from previous posts, I’m about to enter my senior year of high school, something that I am both excited and apprehensive about. On one hand, I can already tell from this summer that senior year is going to be a ton of fun and/or a rip-roaring good time. However, I also realize that the lengthy college application process and AP exams will temper the fun with an experience similar to belly-flopping into a swimming pool of Jell-o (painful). The college application process in particular will do wonders in helping me achieve spiritual and physical separation from my money and free time.  But that’s all in the near future. Right now it’s the end of summer, and the respite from the world of sleep deprivation and #2 pencils has been a welcome change.

So if life’s so peachy, why the title? Well, I’d like to talk about something close to home that occurred recently. About a week ago, three teens crashed an SUV into a utility pole a few miles from where I live. The driver lost control of the car, which rolled over after impact, ejecting one of the three passengers. The driver was trapped in the car, but otherwise fine; the front seat passenger was ejected from the car, but miraculously suffered only minor abrasions; the passenger in the backseat suffered serious injury and was moved to intensive care, where he is now recovering. The driver of the car is currently facing OUI charges.   

This is just one accident in a string of OUI incidents to occur in the town where I live, one involving a death of a passenger about a year ago. What made this one personal for me was that I go to school with the kids in the car. They’re in my graduating class; I sat next to one in Latin, and I played baseball in 8^th grade with the passenger who was injured. It’s heartwarming to see the response and support my peers have given to the injured passenger and his family, and I think that closeness says more about our town than the accident did. There will always be mistakes in everyone’s life, but the ability of a community to support one another through them is always more important.

Risky behavior is a dilemma that no amount of police money or lack of personal insurance will solve. In the past week I have heard everything from sympathy to outright condemnation of the accident. For me though, the incident is a lesson in mortality and fragility. As a teen, you think that you are invincible, that nothing can go wrong, and in the comfortable surroundings of a small town you’ve spent years in, that isn’t a hard notion to conceive. But the fact is that we are all mortal, we are all fragile, and tragedies strike when we forget that.

Corbin F.

www.agordon.com

New Driver – Parent Contract

In Massachusetts in 1999, over 42% of 16 year old drivers had an accident resulting in over $1,000 of reported damage before turning age 17 (this was 47% in 1997, before the Junior Operator’s Law took effect) ! 23% of 17 year olds had a reported accident; for 18 year olds, the rate dropped to 18%. Experience matters. So does observance of the Junior Operators Law.

One of the steps you can take towards safety is to sign this “New Driver-Parent Contract” along with your new driver. The contract outlines responsible driving practices and parent actions. See the contract here, or load a copy to print out.

Safety is always a vital aspect of life for us at A. G. Gordon, Inc., and we encourage you to check out some of our features at our website, or get a web quote.

Related Articles

• ICBC’s top five tips for teens behind the wheel (newswire.ca)
• Advice for Young Drivers (carinsurancequotes.net)

Summer Motorcycle Safety

With the beautiful summer weather we’ve been having, there are more motorcycles than ever on the highways.  Due to their relatively small size, they are not always easily visible to the larger vehicles on the road and thus can present a potential risk of accident. It’s important to be aware of them when on the road and give both extra space and extra attention to the two-wheeled cousin of the car. 

Motorcycle fatalities have also been climbing, reaching 5,290 in 2008, the highest level since the Department of Transportation began collecting data in 1975. There has also been a dramatic jump in the number of deaths among motorcyclists age 40 and older in recent years. 

We hope these tips from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation will help keep you and motorcycle drivers safe:

1. Over half of all fatal motorcycle crashes involve another vehicle. Most of the time, the motorist, not the motorcyclist, is at fault. There are a lot more cars and trucks than motorcycles on the road, and some drivers don’t “recognize” a motorcycle – they ignore it (usually unintentionally).
2. Because of its small size, a motorcycle can be easily hidden in a car’s blind spots (door/roof pillars) or masked by objects or backgrounds outside a car (bushes, fences, bridges, etc). Take an extra moment to look for motorcycles, whether you’re changing lanes or turning at intersections.
3. Because of its small size, a motorcycle may look farther away than it is. It may also be difficult to judge a motorcycle’s speed. When checking traffic to turn at an intersection or into (or out of) a driveway, predict a motorcycle is closer than it looks.
4. Motorcyclists often slow by downshifting or merely rolling off the throttle, thus not activating the brake light. Allow more following distance, say 3 or 4 seconds. At intersections, predict a motorcyclist may slow down without visual warning.
5. Motorcyclists often adjust position within a lane to be seen more easily and to minimize the effects of road debris, passing vehicles, and wind. Understand that motorcyclists adjust lane position for a purpose, not to be reckless or show off or to allow you to share the lane with them.
6. Turn signals on a motorcycle usually are not self-canceling, thus some riders (especially beginners) sometimes forget to turn them off after a turn or lane change. Make sure a motorcycle’s signal is for real.
7. Maneuverability is one of a motorcycle’s better characteristics, especially at slower speeds and with good road conditions, but don’t expect a motorcyclist to always be able to dodge out of the way.
8. Stopping distance for motorcycles is nearly the same as for cars, but slippery pavement makes stopping quickly difficult. Allow more following distance behind a motorcycle because it can’t always stop “on a dime.”

 And for relevant and topical insurance information, as well as risk-management solutions, visit us at our website; you can browse insurance information, watch educational insurance videos, or get a quote.