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It was early evening, about 8:30 when he decided to go for a drive. He backed his 2002 Chevy Malibu out of the driveway of his St. Petersburg home where he lived alone. His wife had died in 1998.
Pinellas County resident Ralph Parker, 93, was traveling about 45 mph when he struck a man crossing the street, severing the pedestrian's right leg. The elder then drove three miles, apparently unaware the body of the 52-year-old man was stuck in the windshield, the head and shoulders inside the car with him with the torso laying across the hood.
When police asked him what had happened, he said that the body seemed to drop from the sky. He thought maybe the body had fallen from a pedestrian overpass into his car. He's said to be suffering from dementia and was apparently unaware he'd been involved in any accident.
A witness to the accident says the pedestrian walked off the center median in front of Parker's car on the three lane highway. She said that she saw the driver of the Malibu slam on his brakes, she heard a crash and then saw a leg airborne, losing a shoe before the limb came to rest on the shoulder of the highway.
But the driver continued on to a toll booth, the head of the victim inside the car on the dash. Aghast, the toll booth attendant called police.
Police took Parker's license and if he wants to regain his driving privileges, he'll have to pass a test. He last renewed his license in 2003 at age 91. His license wasn't due to expire until 2010. Police said he had a clean driving record with the exception of driving with an expired license plate.
Should Parker have been driving? According to published reports, Parker's son who resided in Idaho was on his way to Florida as the accident happened as he had had reports that his father had been acting strangely.
When is someone too old to drive? Will we know ourselves when it's time to stop driving? When we look at our parents and grandparents, how do we decide when its time to take their license away to keep themselves and others safe. To many, giving up their license is a highly emotional decision as it means the loss of their freedom and having to rely on others.
The bizarre St. Petersburg accident with an elderly driver is just one of many that we read about---the car driven by an elderly woman that plows through a group of people standing on a sidewalk and crashes into a storefront after mistaking the gas pedal for the brake--the elderly man who ran a red light because he needed his glasses changed or the elder who can't remember how to get home and is found 30 miles away from his residence after he's reported missing.
Unfortunately, there's no real answer to the question. You can't set an age limit, sometimes tests don't adequately give answers.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, older people have higher rates of fatal crashes per mile driven than any other group except young people. Factors such as Alzheimer's disease, the effects of medication, mobility problems and impaired eyesight are among the factors that can erode driving skills. What teens and elderly drivers have in common is that most of their age groups don't pay as much attention as they should behind the wheel.
The issue of elderly drivers was discussed at the annual meeting of the American Gerontological Society. How can we get unsafe older drivers off the road without unfairly penalizing those who drive well? If government is to take driver's licenses away at a certain age, then the argument becomes that the elderly have few options to transport themselves to the doctor's, the store and post office. There are pros and cons on both sides.
And consider this. When elderly drivers learned to drive, there weren't any high performance cars or power brakes or interstate highways, cruise controls or distractions like cell phones.
Last year, a state report said that Florida was facing a "critical situation with its aging population". According to published reports, last year there were nearly 270,000 people age 85 or older licensed to drive in Florida and of those, at least 20% of them are considered "dementia drivers", according to a 2004 report.
The problem is nationwide, not just Florida although the state has a higher number of elders than many other states.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/olddrive/OlderDriversBook/pages/Chapter8.html
Physicians Guide to Assessing and Counseling Older Drivers
When Parker renewed his license in 2003 for another six years, he didn't have to take any road or written test. He didn't even have to take a vision test. The requirement that elders age 80 and older must pass a vision test when renewing their license went into effect two months after Parker had already renewed his license.
The problem of elderly drivers is nationwide and must be addressed-become a priority for such groups as the AARP and other senior citizens groups and advocates. Public hearings are needed to gain input. Many people argue that the issue is over-sensationalized while others argue that additional testing would be costly and time-consuming.
It must be placed in the proper perspective of saving lives and that one can't place a price on a life. Whatever the cost of implementing new rules and new programs, including even an annual mandatory safe driving course every year for drivers over 80, we can't wait any longer to address the issue.
10-25-05
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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