The ability to get where we want to go by driving is natural and normal for Americans. Most of the time, we take that privilege for granted. But, how safe are we really when we get behind the wheel?
For teens, getting a license is a leap into the adult world and offers new independence. Some parents can teach their children to drive and it is no big deal. Others find it impossible to arrange time to take a son or daughter out for practice.
To pass a driver’s test in Pennsylvania, you must have had a learner’s permit for at least six months and have accumulated 65 hours of driving time. Some parents opt to enroll their student drivers in a driving school.
Annette Merrow, owner of Maefield Driver Training Inc. of State College, said, “Many parents come to me for their teen to gain a good foundation for driving. Another incentive is that with six hours of training from a certified instructor, teens can receive a discount on car insurance from some companies.”
It is difficult for some parent/child combinations to maintain the calm that fosters a good learning experience. That is where an outsider can often work with a teen better than a parent.
Brenda Bennett, president of Transportation Solutions of Erie, said, “I have been teaching students to drive in the car for 20 years. The biggest change is the students are less aware of their surroundings and are harder to teach as they no longer watch the traffic and how the traffic lights rotate, etc. Our industry believes this is because the students may be on their cell phones from an early age in the passenger seat and may miss so much.”
In an email, she also pointed to statistics that say crashes are down for new drivers younger than 18 years of age. “It really matters if the parents insist on the students completing their 65 hours of practice,” she said. “We can tell right away if a student has as many hours as they thought they had. I tell parents if they can put their head down and make out a check without worrying then they are ready.”
My son Klint Cousins, who works part-time as a driving instructor for Transportation Solutions, said, “One of the hardest things for me is when I try to change a bad habit that the student has picked up already from a parent. I don’t want to put down the student’s mother or father, but I am trained to teach the driving laws that we have here.”
He said one of his students drove with the right foot on the gas and the left on the brake as she learned from her mother. Although not explicitly illegal, using the left foot for braking is unwise and can be dangerous.
“I tell them, we are not race car drivers,” said Cousins. “Also, many kids want to tramp on the gas, pull into traffic on a right turn and get into a left lane immediately, endangering themselves and a driver who may be turning into that lane.”
Being a young driver isn’t easy. Learning a new skill while avoiding mistakes that could cause injury or death is daunting. The webite DMV.org lists several common teen mistakes worth repeating:
■ Speeding
As a new driver, it is harder to judge your speed and stopping times, so slow down and give yourself time to obey the posted limits.
■ Getting distracted
When you are eating, talking, texting or fiddling with radio stations, your eyes are off the road and so is your attention. Sending one text takes your eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds. At 55 mph, you could cover the length of a football field while looking down at your phone.
■ Taking unnecessary risks
These include not using turn signals, not checking blind spots, driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs and speeding.
■ Failing to wear a seat belt
■ Over-correcting or other emergency errors, such as swerving and losing control
■ Driving while tired
Teens are often over-booked with sports and school events on top of a heavy workload of studies. Better to let someone else drive when you’ve missed sleep for whatever reason.
■ Too many passengers
A single teen passenger in your car can increase the risk of an accident. The American Academy of Pediatrics pamphlet “Safe Driving for Teens and Parents” has a graph that shows a direct rise in risk for each additional passenger.
The greatest lifetime chance of crashing occurs in the first six months after licensure, which is a sobering thought.
If you have a choice, drive a car that is neither high performance nor massive. Both are too challenging for new drivers to handle.
OLDER DRIVERS
Speaking of car handling brings up the subject of older drivers and safety. As a group, older people are relatively safe drivers.
Many people ask the question, “At what age should an older driver stop driving?” The question might better be, “How can older adults keep driving safely for as long as possible?”
Safe driving is about the health of older adults and their ability to drive. Some things that can affect a senior’s ability to drive are vision, strength, flexibility, agility and medications. A person does have control over some of those things.
If you want to stay on top of your driving game you should consider doing the following:
■ Get a regular physical and follow your doctor’s orders.
Arthritis causes obvious problems in flexibility and diabetes causes many issues such as numbness, vision problems and mental fogginess. Pain itself is a limiting factor in moving and reacting in an emergency on the highway.
■ Understand your medications and know which ones you can swallow together, as well as which can cause drowsiness.
■ Eye exams are of utmost importance in being a safe driver.
Visual problems as aging occurs can show up as decreased vision at night, particularly in the rain. Decreased depth perception or loss of some peripheral vision can have negative effects on your ability to drive safely.
■ Exercise to increase strength and do stretching or yoga to maintain flexibility in neck movement.
Stiffness can impede the ability to see behind your car before making a move like lane changing.
Training your brain with a new hobby or with the computer exercises that are cropping up online may go a long way toward keeping your brain sharp. A 10-hour brain-training program from Posit-Science has gained favor. It was a federally funded research study and those tested had significant gains in processing speed and peripheral vision. The conclusion was that the people tested reduced their chances of having a crash by 50 percent.
Contrary to what you may believe, most senior drivers would rather hear from a spouse or family member when the time comes that there are issues with their driving. If an individual lives alone, a medical doctor may be the best person to start the discussion. The Medical Division of the Department of Motor Vehicles is the unit that sends the request for a person to be retested.
Merrow, of Maefield Driver Training, is a former teacher who has owned her business since 1990 and can administer both book and behind the wheel tests. According to her, the retesting involved three parts. Drivers must pass a vision test, the knowledge part and be able to parallel park. If they fail a section, they may come back and retest up to three times on each of the three sections.
AAA and AARP both hold driver safety courses several times a year; call your local offices for schedules and prices. These courses are good sources of tips and review of laws that keep drivers’ knowledge up to date. Some good advice from the course includes admonitions to:
■ Make smart choices, such as staying off the roads at night if that has become a problem.
■ Consider weather conditions before driving.
■ Exercise caution with left turns primarily, and plan a route that avoids difficult intersections.
Completing the safe driver course can save an average of 5 percent on insurance premiums, which is a good incentive to sign up.
