A tough question: When should an older driver stop driving?
Published in Health & Fitness
Challenges facing the driver:
Challenges facing the family:
Finding a path forward
As for my grandmother, none of us knew what to say. Should we try to get her to agree to stop driving entirely or let her ease into the idea over time? Maybe she could stop driving at night or limit her driving to short distances. Should we bring it to the attention of her doctor and let them direct the next steps? Or should we take an even harder step and report her to the authorities?
If you’re asking similar questions — or if you’re starting to wonder about your own driving abilities — you may feel strongly that it’s important to respect individual preferences, dignity, and independence. Yet you also want to protect everyone from harm.
What are the best ways to strike a balance? Can you test and improve how an older driver is doing behind the wheel? Can you navigate tough conversations in ways that allow room for both independence and safety? These are the subjects to be tackled in the next column.
(Robert H. Shmerling, M.D., is a senior faculty editor and an Editorial Advisory Board member for Harvard Health Publishing.)
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