Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Columns

When it's time to hang up the car keys

By LAVERNE HAMMOND
Published November 29, 2005

Are you ready to give up driving? Is your eyesight good enough and are your reflexes quick enough to handle the tough situations?

I always said that I wanted to drive as long as I felt able to. Even after my daughter pointed out that the insurance, AAA membership, garage rental, license, gas and oil expenses and repairs, divided by the number of times I used my car, added up to more than $28 every time I took my car out, I still wanted to keep driving.

It didn't make sense, but I felt that the freedom my car gave me was worth it.

Then, on April 5 I was hit by a motorized cart inside my apartment building, and I suffered a severe wound on my left leg. I was hospitalized and then in therapy for several months.

At first I thought that when the wound healed I would go back to driving. However, when complications extended my immobility, I made a difficult decision: My car had to go.

But before selling it, I checked out various ways I could get around. Two of my daughters live nearby, but since they both work, I knew I couldn't always rely on them. If I wanted to remain independent, I had to find my own transportation.

I learned that my village's Department of Aging Transportation Program (in Shorewood, Wis.) offers advanced, scheduled door-to-door transportation to eligible older adults who cannot use public transportation. I found out that a program sponsored by various congregations in the area, the Shoreline Interfaith Program, provides transportation, among other services, for older persons. All drivers are volunteers.

I am sure that in most communities similar organizations offer rides to older persons for a nominal fee.

It hasn't been easy for me to be without my car. I have to plan ahead when I want to go somewhere. The first time I had a ride to go shopping, I felt like a kid in a candy shop. When I came home, however, I had a good cry, knowing that I wouldn't have the freedom to go whenever I wanted.

The pain from my accident has slowed me down. But with all the rehabilitation that I have had - hyperbaric treatments and various therapies in the hospital, at home and as an outpatient - and my yoga classes, I am slowly recovering. After having to use walker and a cane, I have reached the point in my struggle at which I am able to overcome not only my anger but regain my spirits. I just keep going.

At a recent meeting of our local Senior Resource Center, a Wisconsin legislator gave an update on legislation he is co-sponsoring, which would require senior drivers to be tested more often. He pointed out that there are more fatal accidents in two categories of drivers: the very young and the elderly.

During a typical year in the United States, the number of lives claimed by automobiles is higher than those lost to guns, terrorists or the flu.

My accident was not caused by an automobile, but because of the setback it presented in my life, I now have a deep empathy for people who have had reversals in their health condition, whether from accident or disease. It is hard to cope with ill health. I feel for all the victims of automobile accidents; some of them never fully recover from their injuries.

I know that I wouldn't want to have been responsible for putting anyone in the situation I have been in during the past six months. I fully support legislation that would have seniors undergo more testing to make sure they are capable of handling their cars.

Driving a car is one of the most dangerous things we do. It can become even more dangerous as we age. So why take a chance? The life you save may be your own.

- LaVerne Hammond, who divides her time between Wisconsin and Florida, is at work on her memoirs. Write her in care of Seniority, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731.

[Last modified November 23, 2005, 13:54:06]