As age climbs, so can your risk behind the wheel

Frank Scaduto has been driving since he was 7, and the 89-year-old Bridgeport resident doesn't plan to get off the road anytime soon.

Scaduto is the son of a mechanic and used to steer the cars his father would tow away for work. He was a truck driver for years, has always loved cars and drives a 1997 Cadillac.

Scaduto said he's hardly had any accidents -- save an incident a few months ago in which another car broadsided his while it was parked -- and sees no reason why he should turn over his keys. "I'm not going to stop driving until I die," he said.

Scaduto is one of more than 640,000 drivers in Connecticut over the age of 65, according to the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles.

Drivers in this age group make up roughly 21 percent of all licensed drivers in the state, and the percentage is growing. Within the next 10 years, about 487,971 Connecticut drivers are expected to join the demographic.

Driving is key for a senior's independence. But, in some cases, older adults might be risking their safety -- and the well-being of others -- by staying on the road too long. Though only a small percentage of traffic accidents in 2010 -- about 6 percent -- involved someone 75 or older, senior drivers were deemed at fault in almost 83 percent of fatal accidents in which they were involved.

Connecticut is one of only eight states that don't require vision testing for those renewing a license. Last year, legislators killed a law that would have required periodic vision screening for all drivers renewing their licenses.

Drivers in decline

Older drivers are less likely than their younger counterparts to take risks, such as drinking while driving. Mature drivers are also less likely to be involved in crashes involving speed, or following too closely.

Experts said the health declines that come with age are a key concern.

Seniors face declines in vision, slowed reaction time and the onset of some forms of dementia, according to Dr. Daniel Wollman, a geriatrician affiliated with Danbury Hospital and St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport. "There are many people with mild cognitive impairments," Wollman said. "Though they may be safe to drive early on, as their disease progresses, it may be unsafe."

But seniors often don't want to admit or recognize they shouldn't be behind a wheel. Thus, a family member, caregiver or someone else has the unenviable task of pointing it out to them. "The person I've come across who says `I know I can't drive' is rare," said Ramia. "Mostly, they go kicking and screaming."

Taking away the keys

Nancie Gray, of Milford, had a difficult time convincing her dad, John Burger, who died three years ago at 76, to stop driving. Burger grew up racing dragsters and had a deep-seated love of automobiles. "Cars were his life," Gray said. "His father sold cars. He went to car shows. They were everything to him."

But when her father was 72, she began to notice that his driving skills were declining. "You know how you kind of wait when a light turns green before you make a left turn, to see if any cars are coming?" Gray said. "My father wouldn't do that."

When Burger was 74, he had a heart attack. He also had vision problems, and could barely see out of his right eye. At that point, Gray said, she knew her dad had to stop driving.

Her father's doctor initiated the difficult conversation. At first, she said, her dad strongly resisted turning over his keys. "He looked at me and said `It's a conspiracy. I don't understand this. I'm fine,' " Gray said.

She sat down with her father and had a long conversation. She eventually got him to agree to stop driving (and to move to Connecticut).

Rob Dodson, 53, of Fairfield, had similar difficulties getting his mom, Vita, now 84, to stop driving.

"She had a stroke two years ago, but the year before that, it was clear that her memory wasn't great and she was slowing down," he said.

Vita also started getting into what her son called "minor scrapes," including getting pulled over for weaving back and forth on the road. In one particularly alarming incident, Rob Dodson said, his mother came home with her sideview mirror missing. "That's when her memory was not so good, and she claimed total ignorance when we asked her what happened."

The final straw came when Vita, backing her car out of her driveway, accidentally drove across her lawn. "I said `You can't drive anymore,' " Rob said. "And she realized then that she couldn't do it."

What are the rules?

"Age itself doesn't cause car crashes," said Jennifer Millea, communications director for AARP of Connecticut. "People like to think that there's this silver bullet, where you take all people of a certain age off the road. That isn't the case."

In Connecticut, drivers 65 and older have the option to renew their licenses more frequently -- every two years, as opposed to every six, which is required for all drivers. Renewing more frequently isn't a requirement for older drivers.

Fran Mayko, spokeswoman for AAA Southern New England, said AAA opposes the use of age as the sole criterion for appraising driver competence or as a determining factor in the selection of drivers for re-examination. However, the agency does support measures that could help identify drivers of any age who shouldn't be on the road anymore, including vision testing upon license renewals.

Millea said AARP would also support vision testing in the state if it were part of the renewal process for all drivers and didn't single out older drivers.

The Connecticut vision-testing law, passed in 1990 and neglected for decades, was originally intended to apply only to older drivers, but was altered to require tests of all drivers at every other renewal. In 2011 the law was removed to save the DMV more than $2 million in testing costs.

State Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, who is chairwoman of the Aging and Labor & Public Employees committee, said she was in favor of vision testing for seniors and still is. Prague, 86, still drives, and gets her vision tested regularly. She said she doesn't know exactly why there aren't more laws in Connecticut regarding older drivers. "Maybe legislators are afraid to irritate the growing elderly population," Prague said. "But I think seniors would be willing to comply."

But Rep. Antonio Guerrera, D-Rocky Hill, a transportation committee chairman, said the vision test law just wasn't deemed worth the expense, particularly in regard to seniors, whose accidents rates were low.

Available options

If a loved one doesn't want to seize the keys or car from an elderly relative, the senior could lose their license in other ways. If a driver is involved in an accident or traffic violation and the responding officer believes the motorist shouldn't be driving for some reason, then the driver's license can be taken away immediately.

A license may be revoked or modified if a doctor or other professional decides that someone has a medical issue that makes him or her immediately unfit to drive.

Seymour said the DMV tries to help drivers keep their licenses as long as possible. Its responses range from imposing license restrictions -- for instance, the driver might be prohibited from driving at night or on certain kinds of roads -- to requiring modifications to the driver's car, such as larger mirrors.

Gary Knepler, who runs Gary Knepler Driving School, with offices in Monroe and Stratford, said his instructors will evaluate drivers referred to him with visual screenings, physical screenings and road tests.

When the evaluation is complete, he presents a full report to the client and his or her doctor, but the school isn't obligated to report the results to the DMV. Knepler said, in some cases, the people he works with need to stop driving but, for some, he's able to do what he calls "driver rehab," recommending some changes that will help them continue to drive safely.

Like the AARP and AAA, Knepler isn't in favor of laws specifically targeting older drivers. "The minute you put in laws based on age, you open a whole can of worms," he said. But he does think the laws regarding license renewal in general need to be stricter. For instance, he supports vision testing at every other renewal, and would like to see knowledge or road tests incorporated into the renewal process, as well.

Knepler said he's watched people get their license renewed who shouldn't be on the road. "That's scary stuff," he said.

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