Although driving ability depends on skill, not years, many seniors find that their skills deteriorate as they age. This may hinder their ability to see or hear hazards on the road, and to react to dangers they encounter when driving.

The deterioration of driving skills due to aging may lead to dangerous situations for senior drivers. These include, but are not limited to:

  • swerving off the road in construction zones
  • hitting or coming close to hitting pedestrians
  • failing to stop in time at lights or for traffic
  • failing to see signs or road hazards at night
  • failing to adjust to inclement weather or changing driving conditions

Some of these situations may have significant consequences for senior drivers and others on the road. They may lead to one-car accidents, accidents involving bikes or pedestrians, or multi-car and head-on collisions. These wrecks can cause injuries or deaths.

To keep everyone on the roads safe, it is important to monitor and speak with senior drivers. There are three steps you can follow with your loved ones to ensure they are as safe as possible on the road:

  1. Early Planning. It's important to establish an early plan to help aging drivers, thereby giving everyone involved plenty of time to adjust to new patterns and prepare for driving changes.
  2. Communication. It's important to remain in constant communication with a senior driver, in order to diagnose deteriorating skills and avoid dangerous situations. Clear communication can also make it easier to break the delicate news to seniors that their driving skills are deteriorating.
  3. Skills Assessment. Because it is often difficult for seniors to assess their own driving abilities, it is important to do frequent skills-assessments for them. This ensures that they have the necessary ability to operate their vehicle, and allows you to take immediate action if they do not.

By diagnosing deteriorating driving skills in seniors, and by communicating with your loved ones about the risks of impaired driving, you can make a difference and help to keep our roads safer. Everyone, including seniors, deserves to be as safe as possible behind the wheel.

If you or someone you know has been injured in a New York car accident, it is important that you contact a Long Island auto-accident attorney. An experienced accident attorney can help you file a personal injury claim and recover the damages you deserve after an accident.

The lawyers at Rappaport, Glass, Greene, and Levine have years of experience helping car-accident victims in New York win millions of dollars in compensation from injury claims. Contact us today in Manhattan or Long Island at (800)734-9445.