July 31-August 6, 2003

slant

Wheel Old

Age is more than a number when it comes to getting behind the wheel.

by Jenn Carbin

The image of Russell Weller seen across the nation the past few weeks is oddly familiar: Maybe it’s that the sheepish, not-altogether­present smile is reminiscent of your great-uncle’s. But it’s probably that we have seen this look before in a situation similar to Weller’s, any one of the many that have happened in recent years: An elderly American, fresh from a stunningly stupid car accident, looking nervous, unsure, and well, like he or she has been caught at something.

Of course, what he has been caught at is being old, and though that isn't a crime, and even confers invaluable traits, driving when you are at a naturally ordained disadvantage just might be.

Weller is, of course, the 86-year-old man who plowed through three blocks of a crowded Santa Monica street, killing 10 and injuring more than 50 others. Drug- and alcohol-free, he may actually have sped through the street market after hitting a Mercedes. He didn't stop until someone he hit landed on his windshield. Authorities are considering whether the case is manslaughter and whether he was qualified to drive in the first place. The result will be important. As the elderly portion of the U.S. population continues to increase, licensing requirements geared to protect people from those who should retire from driving but refuse to will gain significance.

Though many people confront taking the car keys away from their parents and some seniors opt out on their own, it seems we can't count on those things. And the charge of discriminating against "one group" is arguably silly when you consider that each of us, if lucky, gets old.

Several factors conspire to keep dangerous, elderly drivers on the road in this country: Senior citizens' groups constitute one of the country's most powerful lobbies, and that lobby presents stiff opposition to states considering age-based license-renewal requirements; growing old and less independent is scary; and the care of our elderly family members is not an area in which Americans excel.

Elderly Americans who have become dangerous on the road aren't the only ones in denial. Just as younger people don't like admitting older people often know more than they do, we don't like admitting that physiological changes put them, and eventually us, at a disadvantage, taking us out of much of the game. And if pop stops driving, who is going to take him to the bank? You?

Our societal lack of a real full appreciation and acknowledgement of the aging process never helps the elderly, whether we're talking about acknowledging wisdom and experience or the downside. It didn't help Brandi Mitock. She was run down in 1998 in a Santa Monica crosswalk (What's with Santa Monica?) by a 90-something driver who hadn't taken a road test since he got his driver's license in 1918. It didn't help the 27-year-old killed by an elderly woman driving the wrong way on the expressway, or the woman pinned to her front step by the car of an 80-year-old in Philly a few years ago.

It is a fact that as we age, our senses diminish and the odds of our acquiring debilitating conditions and taking medications increase. Numerous organizations and insurance companies advising the aged and their families describe the problems. Older drivers, particularly those over 75, are more likely to have impaired hearing and their reflexes slow. Older drivers need more light to see than younger drivers, are more sensitive to glare, and have a narrower field of peripheral vision. The elderly have reduced tolerance for alcohol, reduced flexibility and diminished strength. There might be 18-year-olds who shouldn't drive, but the fact is, no matter how good a driver you are at 75, your talents in that department are not what they were.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PENNDOT) and the Pennsylvania Department of Aging have made a booklet available on the PENNDOT website called "Talking With Older Drivers: A Guide For Family and Friends" (www.dot4.state.pa.us/pdotforms/misc/Pub_345.pdf). There's a chapter about "warning signs," and a Q&A tells what to do if you are "concerned about the driving ability and safety of someone older" and what resources to "suggest to an older driver to help refresh skills." The publishers suggest diplomatically that "the complexity of driving in some areas" might be more the problem, not aging. Yet there is no such PENNDOT resource for the families of 40-year-olds.

It's easy to see that it's a blow to pride and even terrifying to give up a major part of being independent and mobile. But compassion isn't the same as denial or avoiding safeguards. How about a little real compassion? Is this what Russell Weller lived 86 years for? He didn't want to give up his independence, but he surely didn't want to gain notoriety and be remembered for being incompetent and killing 10 people either.

Jenn Carbin is a freelance writer and editor and a former City Paper staff writer. If you would like to respond to this Slant or have one of your own (850 words), contact Howard Altman, City Paper editor in chief, 123 Chestnut St., third floor, Phila., PA 19106 or e-mail altman@citypaper.net.