Four Ways to Determine if Your Senior Might Have a Driving Problem

Your elderly family member might be able to drive well into her older years. But it’s just as likely that she encounters problems that make driving difficult if not impossible for her. Here are some ways to determine if she’s having too much trouble driving.

How Is Your Senior Doing in General?

Senior Care Osakis, MN: Senior’s and Driving

Driving is just one piece of the overall puzzle that is your senior’s health and well-being. It’s important to look at those other pieces to determine what else might be difficult for her. If she’s having trouble seeing or hearing, that impacts her ability to drive, perhaps more than she even realizes. Cognitive changes can also have a huge affect on her ability to drive. You can get an idea what else might be a problem for your senior with a little detective work.

Do a Ride Along with Your Senior
When did you last ride with your senior as she drove? Being a passenger in her car can help you to see quite a bit about how she approaches driving right now. Don’t use this ride as an opportunity to critique her driving, though. You want to pay attention to whether she’s holding her speed accurately, using her turn signals, and interacting properly with other vehicles on the road.

Do You Feel Comfortable Letting Everyone Ride with Her?
Something else to consider is how unsafe you feel with your senior’s driving. Are there people you would not feel comfortable having in the car with her? If your answer is yes, then it’s time for you to be doing something about your senior’s driving. On the other hand, if you’re comfortable with anyone you know riding with her, you might be feeling overprotective more than anything else.

Make Solutions Available for Her
It’s important that when you talk to your senior about her driving you offer her solutions. Just hashing out the problem is not the full purpose of this talk. Let her know that you’re not trying to keep her stranded at home. You want her to be able to go where she wants whenever she wants to do so. And in order to do that, she may need help now. Senior care providers are excellent companions and they can take over the driving side of things, for instance. That ensures that your senior is still as mobile as possible.

Talking about your senior’s ability to continue to drive can be a touchy subject. Try to remember that this is difficult for her and give her some leeway. You may have to have multiple attempts at this conversation before you’re successful.

Excerpt: At some point, driving can become an issue for your senior.

If you or an aging loved-one are considering a Senior Care in Osakis, MN, please contact the caring staff at Alternative Senior Care today. Providing Home Care in Central Minnesota and Surrounding Communities. Call us Today (320) 352-3350.