Tips To Become Better driver at your old age
By reducing risk factors and incorporating safe driving practices, you may be able to continue driving safely long into your senior years. Even if you find that you need to reduce your driving or give up the keys, Old age comes with all kinds of weaknesses like poor eyesight, poor hearing, low power of attention and slow reflexes. However, this shouldn’t slow you down and make you give up your independence, with these 6 tips you will be able to drive safely and with ease.
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How age Effect Your Driving:
- Diminished arm strength can make it hard to turn the steering wheel quickly and effectively.
- Your reaction times can slow down with age.
- Neck pain or stiffness can make it harder to look over your shoulder.
- You can lose the ability to effectively divide your attention between multiple activities.
- Leg pain can make it difficult to move your foot from the gas to the brake pedal.
Important Tips while driving
If a driving situation makes you uncomfortable, don’t do it. Many of us voluntarily begin to make changes in our driving practices as we get older by:
- Staying off freeways and highways to avoid fast-moving traffic.
- Not driving in bad weather (rain, thunderstorms, snow, hail, ice).
- Planning the route before leaving to feel more confident and avoid getting lost.
- Avoiding distractions while driving, such as talking on the phone, texting, or consulting a map or GPS.
- Leaving adequate space for the car in front of you.
- Paying extra attention at intersections.
- Driving only during daylight hours if seeing well at night is a problem.
- Making sure you are driving appropriate to the flow of traffic.
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Some Extra Things that you should have to do at this age
- Physical fitness
Better not let the old age get better of you, stay active at all times, some easy exercises would be good as physical activity. Exercises like walking, jogging and some stretching exercises keep your body parts functioning well, keeping yourself busy at all times is recommended instead of sitting around and being lazy. As time passes people also tend to get cardiovascular diseases like obesity.etc. Physical fitness avoids that.
- Health checkup
Consequences do come with growing old therefore; don’t let your guard down. Regularly contacting the doctor and scheduling some appointments would be good. Testing your eyesight and getting some hearing tests done is advisable. With that said, enough rest and sleep can help a lot.
- Retrain yourself
We’ve all heard of the famous saying ‘you are never too old to learn’. You can always keep up with your driving skills and abilities by signing up for a refresher course. Maintaining control over your car and boosting your confidence would be part of your course. You can also try changing other habits at home, other than the course.
- Manage chronic Illness
If you’re a patient of chronic illnesses like diabetes, asthma, or seizures, you have to be more careful as they can affect your driving abilities majorly. Follow a doctor’s advice and limit your driving if advised so. Some medications can cause dizziness and drowsiness which can make it harder to drive so it’s better to know the side-effects and maybe consider taking a break.
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- Avoid distractions
Driving capabilities can be determined by many factors, making sure that no distractions get in the way of your driving is mandatory. Be it the radio set, the GPS devices, mobile or any other digital equipment, maintaining your focus solely on the road and the surrounding vehicles should be your top priority; to avoid collision with any vehicles. You should also take some extra caution and keep a safe distance from the car ahead of you. If you are driving with any kids, ask them to sit back and stay silent as it can be a distraction.
While age is something beyond our control, being a little precautions and driving safely are definitely in our range. Old age should not be your weakness, nevertheless, it shouldn’t make you lose your dependence instead make the most of it and live your life to the fullest. Just remember to be pre-cautious, concentrated and always stay relaxed. Keep these in mind and your driving will be done with ease without any more difficulties.