Dangerous Elderly Driving
by Jacob Peterson
1. Causes
1.1. After a certain age, many people suffer a decline in functions that are crucial for driving, such as vision, hearing, reflexes, and cognitive and motor skills. As those skills deteriorate, safe driving becomes more and more difficult.
1.2. Senior citizens are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, so more of them are hitting the road.
2. Effects
2.1. People are killed
2.2. Cars end up in telephone poles, in store windows, and in ditches because they hit the gas instead of the brake, or because they are in reverse instead of drive.
2.3. Older people cannot avoid smaller accidents that most other drivers can because of delayed reflexes. Experts say that a person's reaction time decreases by almost 40% from age 35 to 65.
3. Links
3.1. http://www.2facts.com/icof_story.aspx?PIN=i0701080
3.2. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMD1572-0-5003&artno=0000271157&key=&type=ART&shfilter=U&sound=no
3.3. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMD1572-0-5003&artno=0000261153&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=elderly%20driving&title=Stopping%20Older%2C%20Dangerous%20Drivers%20a%20Growing%20Problem&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=Y&ic=Y
