Older Driver Safety Awareness Week just passed, and the state has been sharing resources to help people stay educated and safe behind the wheel at all ages. The aging process is different for everyone, and PennDOT reminds mature drivers they may see some changes in vision, and reaction time.

“ There's a lot of people out there who think that if you're a mature driver, you know, 70 or 80 or 90s even, you shouldn't be driving when the reality is there are younger people who perhaps have some issues that shouldn't be driving, but a lot of things that change, you know, your vision changes, your medications that you take change. “You have physical things that go on, “said Fritzi Schreffler, Safety Press Officer for PennDOT.

For some mature drivers, there are some things to watch out for to limit or stop driving.

“If they're feeling more nervous or anxious when they're driving, that's a sign. They could also like if they're seeing unexplained dense scrapes, damages to like car doors and mailboxes, that kind of thing. That's another sign, you know, frequently getting lost or not knowing, you know, like you know where they are. That's another sign. Or if they're having other close calls, the reaction time, if they're noticing that their reaction time is slowing, that could be a sign that they might want to consider not driving as much or if they're having difficulty paying attention or staying in their lane of travel and judging the just the gaps, too, at the between their cars and things like that, “said Aimee Imana, Spokesperson for PennDOT.

CLICK HERE for more resources for older drivers across the commonwealth to remain active and connected in their communities.

 

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