When are you to old to drive a car?

[Tubby]

Driver, 93, rolls through St. Pete toll booth with body sticking out of windshield

Associated Press

ST. PETERSBURG -- A 93-year-old driver apparently suffering from dementia fatally struck a pedestrian, then continued driving through a toll booth with the man's body on his windshield, police said.

Ralph Parker, of Pinellas Park, drove for three miles Wednesday night after striking the 52-year-old pedestrian with his gold 2002 Chevrolet Malibu, severing the man's right leg, police said.

A toll taker on the Sunshine Skyway saw the body stuck through Parker's windshield and notified police, Traffic Homicide Investigator Michael Jockers said.

Authorities did not identify the pedestrian.

Parker was hospitalized overnight with minor scrapes, and was expected to be taken to an elder care facility, Jockers said.

Charges were not likely to be filed, because Parker did not appear to know what had happened, where he was nor the correct date, said Bruce Bartlett, chief assistant in the Pinellas-Pasco County State Attorney's Office.

``He may have somewhere in his mind have realized it was a crash, but immediately forgot about it,'' Jockers said.

Police took Parker's license, which he renewed in 2003.

``That was the one thing he had, to get in his car and just drive for the sheer enjoyment of driving,'' Jockers said. Parker lived alone after his wife died in 1998, according to authorities.

A spokesman for the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said the agency would conduct its own inquiry into whether Parker, who otherwise had a clean driving record, should have had a license.

Seniors age 80 or older must pass only a vision test when renewing a Florida driver's license.

[JungleJim]

Seniors age 80 or older must pass only a vision test when renewing a Florida driver's license.
================================================== ===================================

Tester: can you see the body impaled through your windshield?

testee: Yes

tester: Alrighty, here's your license, Murry....I mean Methuselah

[Mrs. Hein]

Seniors age 80 or older must pass only a vision test when renewing a Florida driver's license.


Studies have shown that vision is not always the problem with senior drivers. It's their REACTION time that can be the real issue. They can "see" just fine, but may not be able to coordinate their hands and feet on the wheel and pedals quickly enough to avoid an accident. (stepping up to soapbox now...)

Another problem is flexibility. Many seniors, due to arthritis or other motion-limiting conditions, cannot turn their heads far enough to look over their shoulders in the blind spots where mirrors don't function.

The most common accident for seniors is getting t-boned when pulling from a side-street into an intersection to turn left. It seems they are less able to discern just how fast a car is approaching head on from the left. Senior drivers are also more likely to die in an automobile accident simply because their bodies cannot recover as quickly.

It's so difficult to know when someone should stop. We went through this for years with my own mother. I could see a definite difference in her when she finally gave up her car this summer. She hates not being able to go to Publix and WalMart whenever she wants. She hates being dependent upon us to get her to the doctor and around town. But I hate even more the thought of her having a seizure and plowing into a crowd of kids or plunging into one of our many lakes.

As our baby boomers continue to approach and enter retirement, our communities need to give serious though to better public transportation. We will probably never have the convenience of a New York City transit system, with a new conveyance coming along every few minutes. But, the suburban bedroom communities like Weston, PPines, Coral Springs, etc., need more options to make it easier for senior drivers to give up their cars when it's time.

(off soapbox now...)

[dianepmny]

Incredible. I read this yesterday and could only shake my head.

I know how important it is for seniors to maintain their sense of independence, but I'm totally against people of a certain age driving.

There really needs to be a cut-off.

[d-o-b]

It's their REACTION time that can be the real issue.
3 miles to notice a body in your car?? I would say that's plenty of time...:D

[Mrs. Hein]

3 miles to notice a body in your car?? I would say that's plenty of time...:D
It seems so, D-O-B!!

This fellow, though, seemed to suffer from dementia as well. He had no idea what he had done. He said something about the body falling out of the sky. He also said he was heading home, but was in fact driving AWAY from home. This poor guy should have stopped driving when the dementia started becoming apparent. It's so hard to force seniors from driving. As long as they can pass a vision test, they can keep renewing. And as I mentioned in the previous post, the combination of reaction time and mobility (and dementia) can create more problems than good vision can compensate for.

I sometimes think modern medicine has not necessarily done the human race a favor by allowing our bodies to survive for so many years longer than we can care for ourselves... (IMHO)

[Tubby]

3 miles to notice a body in your car?? I would say that's plenty of time...:D

It was dark Doh

[Tubby]

Dead man gets parking ticket

Australian authorities have apologized to the family of an elderly man who was given a parking ticket while he lay dead in his car in a suburban shopping center.

The 71-year-old man, known to be seriously ill, went missing nine days ago and his body was found in his car in a shopping mall car park in a Melbourne suburb, police said.

A parking ticket had been placed on the car the day before his body was found.

"It's just tragic. It must be just so sad for the family and we extend our sincere sympathies to them," local mayor Paul Denham told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Friday.

"The circumstances surrounding the location of this poor fellow must make it all the harder for the family. It is simply a case of the parking officer not noticing."

[d-o-b]

threre you go... that's the anwser to your question..."When are you to old to drive a car?" when you are dead????:D :D

[Toad]

I bet he stiffs them on the parking ticketDoh

[Donna]

yeah, he wasn't parked....they'll get him on loitering.:D

[JungleJim]

Dead man gets parking ticket
....went missing nine days ago and his body was found in his car in a shopping mall ......A parking ticket had been placed on the car the day before his body was found.

What's up with the officer not noticing the body in the car or the stench of a eight day old corpse, not exactly Sherlock Holmes Huh?:rolleyes:

[Non Member]

I believe there are 10,000 licensed drivers over the age of 90 in the state of Florida.

[d-o-b]

I believe there are 10,000 licensed drivers over the age of 90 in the state of Florida.
HOLLY CRAP!!!! Doh that many?????

[JungleJim]

I believe there are 10,000 licensed drivers over the age of 90 in the state of Florida.


Doesn't mean they are still alive or even actaul people, remeber this IS Florida where even the dead and nonexistant can vote....and driveDoh

[Tubby]

Doesn't mean they are still alive or even actaul people, remeber this IS Florida where even the dead and nonexistant can vote....and driveDoh

Are you saying 8000 of them are Republicans? Nono

[Tubby]

Here we go again !!! Doh

Driver, 97, damages home, neighbor's porch

A 97-year-old man damaged a neighbor's porch and his own home when backing out of his driveway Saturday morning, police said.

The man, who was not identified by police, backed into the porch in the 1700 block of Southwest 18th Street in the Leisureville retirement community about 10:30 a.m., Sgt. Gladys Cannon said.

He then slammed on the gas, crossed the neighbor's yard and drove into his own home, Cannon said. The car drove halfway through the kitchen and living room.

The man was not injured, police said