Houston Car Accident Lawyer Blog

I have a friend who was waxing long over the fact that his neighbor was still driving at the age of 95. He went on to describe at length how he would see the garage door roll open several times a week at all times of the day and night and marvel at how this little elderly woman - nearly impossible to see above the dashboard and behind the steering wheel - would inch her way down the drive and then down the street.

Those who lived close by knew to stay off the road when she set off because she had a habit of forgetting to stop at stop signs as well as driving on the wrong side of the road. Police had been called on several occasions but - as yet - law enforcement had been unable to deny her a driver's license.

This might be mildly amusing if it weren't so potentially deadly. As baby boomers and their parents inch into their twilight years it is difficult to get them to accept what should be considered a natural limit to their abilities. With age comes decreasing eyesight clarity, reflex response times and impaired judgment - such as predicting the amount of time needed to make a left hand turn in front of oncoming traffic.

I am not elder-bashing here. A wealth of studies have been done to support these premises - and the statistics are available to show that aging adults are less capable of handling a several thousand pound machine in increasingly congested traffic situations.

If you have an older parent or family member who is still driving - consider discussing alternative methods of transportation that may keep everyone safer.

News stories in which an elderly driver caused injury and death to others because of incapacitation are difficult to read - and most certainly are even more tragic to experience.

We want to protect elderly drivers from not only contributing to a car accident but getting injured in the process.