Georgia Injury Law Blog
Older people who suffer mild mental declines are likely to make the decision to give up driving in order to eliminate their risks of being involved in auto accidents.
Concerns about senior drivers have increased over the past decade with the increase in the number of motorists above the age of 65 driving on our streets. With life expectancies at all time highs, it is natural that we see many senior drivers on our roads. Driving is key to senior physical and mental health. However, seniors may suffer from several age- related declines and impairments that reduce their ability to drive safely and increase their risks of being involved in a car accident. Vision may begin to fail and hearing may become less sharp as the years go by. Even more disturbing are the mental or cognitive declines that seniors may face as they get older.
A new study finds that most seniors who begin to suffer mental declines like forgetfulness make the decision to give up driving on their own. As part of the study, the researchers tracked 213 seniors above the age of 72. None of the seniors suffered from symptoms of mental decline at the beginning of the study, but as the years progressed, some of them began to suffer from deficiencies including impairment in memory, judgment and reasoning.