EnCompass®
The AAA Companion

Commentary

AAA Colorado offers CarFit brochure to mature drivers

AAA's Lifelong Safe Mobility initiative continues to recognize the need to keep our nation's growing number of mature drivers safe and mobile. AAA Colorado works with other organizations to provide solutions that will allow mature drivers to maintain a high level of mobility without endangering themselves or those with whom they share the roads.

By addressing the three major components of traffic safety-the road, the user, and the vehicle-AAA Colorado is determined to help mature drivers stay safely mobile, whether they drive themselves or use other sources of transportation.

AAA approaches the road component of traffic safety by urging Congress to increase funding to make our roads more driver-friendly. To address the user, AAA recently launched a computer-based screening tool-AAA Roadwise Review: A Tool to Help Seniors Drive Safely Longer-that helps mature drivers evaluate their driving abilities in the privacy of their own home. In an effort to address the third and final element of traffic safety-the vehicle-AAA has released CarFit, an informational brochure to help drivers make their vehicles "fit" them better.

The CarFit brochure provides specific and practical community resources to help older drivers maintain and strengthen their wellness to prolong safe, independent driving. It teaches what it means to have a good "fit" between you and your vehicle, and also helps answer a variety of questions related to your safe driving ability. For example, do you have a clear line of sight over the steering wheel? Are your mirrors adjusted properly?

Finally, the CarFit brochure includes information about adaptive devices that can be added to a vehicle to help compensate for physical changes you may experience, or simply to make the vehicle fit you more comfortably and safely. A few examples of these after-market devices include: