what to do if your legs and arms become stiff during driving
Have you been worried well-nigh your driving? Have your family or friends expressed concern? Changes in your health may affect your driving skills over time. Don't risk hurting yourself or others. Talk with your doctor well-nigh any concerns y'all have nearly your health and driving.
Stiff Joints and Muscles
As you age, your joints may get stiff, and your muscles may weaken. Arthritis, which is mutual among older adults, might affect your power to drive. These changes can get in harder to plough your caput to look dorsum, turn the steering wheel quickly, or restriction safely.
Safe driving tips:
- See your doctor if pain, stiffness, or arthritis seem to get in the style of your driving.
- If possible, drive a motorcar with automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, and large mirrors.
- Be physically active or exercise to go on and even improve your strength and flexibility.
- Remember about getting hand controls for both the gas and brake pedals if you accept leg problems.
Trouble Seeing
Your eyesight tin modify every bit you lot get older. It might exist harder to see people, things, and motion outside your direct line of sight. Information technology may have longer to read street or traffic signs or fifty-fifty recognize familiar places. At night, you may have trouble seeing things clearly. Glare from oncoming headlights or street lights tin exist a problem. Depending on the time of the twenty-four hour period, the sun might be blinding.
Eye diseases, such as glaucoma, cataracts, and macular degeneration, too as some medicines, can also cause vision problems.
Safe driving tips:
- If you are 65 or older, see your eye md every year. Ask if in that location are ways to improve your eyesight.
- If you need glasses or contact lenses to encounter far away while driving, make sure your prescription is up-to-date and correct. Always wear them when you are driving.
- Cut back on or stop driving at dark if you lot take trouble seeing in the dark. Try to avert driving during sunrise and sunset, when the sun tin can be directly in your line of vision.
Trouble Hearing
As yous get older, your hearing tin change, making it harder to find horns, sirens, or even noises coming from your own car. Hearing loss can be a problem because these sounds warn yous when you may need to pull over or go out of the style.
Safe driving tips:
- Have your hearing checked at least every 3 years subsequently age fifty.
- Discuss concerns you have about hearing with your physician. There may exist things that can help.
- Try to keep the inside of the car every bit quiet as possible while driving.
Slower Reaction Time and Reflexes
As you lot become older, your reflexes might become slower, and you might non react as quickly every bit y'all could in the past. You might observe that you have a shorter attention span, making information technology harder to practise two things at once. Stiff joints or weak muscles as well can make it harder to move quickly. Loss of feeling or tingling in your fingers and feet tin can get in difficult to steer or use the foot pedals. Parkinson'southward disease or limitations following a stroke can make it no longer safe to drive.
Safe driving tips:
- Exit more infinite between you and the machine in forepart of you lot.
- Start braking early when you need to stop.
- Avert heavy traffic areas or rush-hour driving when you can.
- If you lot must drive on a fast-moving highway, bulldoze in the correct-hand lane. Traffic moves more slowly there, giving you more than time to make condom driving decisions.
Medications Tin can Affect Driving
Practice you take any medicines that make you lot experience drowsy, lightheaded, or less alert than usual? Do medicines you take accept a warning about driving? Many medications have side furnishings that tin can make driving unsafe. Pay attention to how these drugs may affect your driving.
Rubber driving tips:
- Read medicine labels carefully. Look for any warnings.
- Make a listing of all of your medicines, and talk with your doctor or chemist about how they tin can affect your driving.
- Don't drive if you feel lightheaded or drowsy.
Exist a Safe Commuter
Maybe y'all already know that driving at nighttime, on the highway, or in bad conditions is a problem for you. Some older drivers also have issues when yielding the right of way, turning (specially making left turns), changing lanes, passing, and using throughway ramps.
Safe driving tips:
- Accept your driving skills checked by a driving rehabilitation specialist, occupational therapist, or other trained professional.
- Take a defensive driving class. Some machine insurance companies may lower your nib when you pass this type of class. Organizations like AARP, American Automobile Clan (AAA), or your automobile insurance company can assistance you find a form near you lot.
- When in dubiousness, don't go out. Bad weather condition similar rain, ice, or snow can brand it hard for anyone to drive. Try to wait until the atmospheric condition is amend, or apply buses, taxis, or other transportation services.
- Avoid areas where driving can exist a problem. For instance, choose a route that avoids highways or other high-speed roadways. Or, find a way to go that requires few or no left turns.
- Ask your doctor if any of your health problems or medications might get in unsafe for you to drive. Together, you tin can make a programme to help yous keep driving and make up one's mind when it is no longer rubber to drive.
Do You lot Have Concerns About an Older Driver?
Are you worried about an older family unit member or friend driving? Sometimes, information technology can be difficult for an older person to realize that he or she is no longer a safe commuter. Y'all might want to notice the person'southward driving skills.
If it's not possible to detect the older person driving, wait out for these signs:
- Multiple vehicle crashes, "most misses," and/or new dents in the car
- Ii or more traffic tickets or warnings inside the concluding 2 years; increases in car insurance premiums considering of driving issues
- Comments from neighbors or friends most driving
- Feet near driving at night
- Health issues that might touch on driving ability, including issues with vision, hearing, and/or movement
- Complaints near the speed, sudden lane changes, or actions of other drivers
- Recommendations from a md to alter driving habits or quit driving entirely
Is It Time to Requite Up Driving?
Nosotros all age differently. For this reason, there is no way to set up 1 age when everyone should cease driving. And then, how do you know if y'all should end? To help decide, ask yourself:
- Practice other drivers often honk at me?
- Have I had some accidents, even if they were only "fender benders"?
- Do I get lost, even on roads I know?
- Practise cars or people walking seem to announced out of nowhere?
- Practice I get distracted while driving?
- Take family, friends, or my doctor said they're worried almost my driving?
- Am I driving less these days because I'm not as sure near my driving as I used to exist?
- Do I have trouble staying in my lane?
- Do I have trouble moving my foot between the gas and the brake pedals, or practise I sometimes misfile the two?
- Take I been pulled over by a constabulary officer well-nigh my driving?
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, it may be fourth dimension to talk with your dr. about driving or have a driving assessment.
How Will You Get Around?
Are yous worried you lot won't be able to do the things y'all desire and need to do if you stop driving? Many people have this business concern, but there may be more than ways to go around than you think. For instance, some areas provide free or depression-cost bus or taxi services for older people. Some communities offer a carpool service or scheduled trips to the grocery store, mall, or doctor's office. Religious and civic groups sometimes have volunteers who will bulldoze you where you want to go.
Your local Area Agency on Aging can help you detect services in your area. Call ane-800-677-1116, or go to https://eldercare.acl.gov to detect your nearest Area Agency on Aging.
You lot can besides think about using a car or ride-sharing service. Sound pricey? Don't forget—it costs a lot to own a automobile. If you don't have to brand car payments or pay for insurance, maintenance, gas, oil, or other car expenses, then you may be able to afford to take taxis or other transportation. You can also buy gas for friends or family members who give you rides.
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For More Information Nigh Driving
This content is provided by the NIH National Institute on Crumbling (NIA). NIA scientists and other experts review this content to ensure information technology is accurate and up to date.
Content reviewed: December 12, 2018
Source: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/older-drivers
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