PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Contact::Debbi Lardinois Communications Specialist AAA Colorado 303-753-8800 Ext. 8103 dlardinois@colorado.aaa.com When should a parent stop driving? DENVER, May 1 - For most people, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are times to reflect on the many contributions of parents. At the approach of Mother’s Day (May 12) and Father’s Day (June 17), AAA is urging the adult children of older Americans to talk to their aging parents about driver safety. “The time to start the first conversations about mature driver safety is long before driving becomes a problem,” says AAA Colorado traffic safety education specialist Wave Dreher. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System, “People age 70 and older have more motor vehicle deaths per 100,000 people than older groups except people younger than 25.” So, how can you tell when mom or dad needs to stop driving? A driver’s chronological age is not a good predictor of driving ability. What counts on the road is performance. Signs of diminished capacity include: A series of minor accidents or near misses. Wandering thoughts or is unable to concentrate. Difficulty reading ordinary road signs. Gets lost on familiar roads. Other drivers honk at them frequently. Is spoken to about driving by police, friends and family. “We are committed to keeping mature drivers on the road safer, longer,” says Dreher. Educational information and self-assessment tools for mature drivers are available through AAA Colorado. Later this summer AAA will roll out CarFit, the first-of-its-kind program that helps improve safety by determining a person’s proper “fit” in the vehicle. For more information go to www.aaa.com/drive or contact Wave Dreher at 303-753-8800, ext. 8105. ### SIDEBAR Mature Driving Statistics Every day in America, nearly 8,000 people turn 60, and the rate at which our population is aging is increasing. By 2020, there will be more than 40 million licensed driver’s ages 65 and older. Age in itself does not affect driving. It’s the physical changes that accompany aging that influence how safely a person drives. Vision changes which can accompany aging include the inability to change focus from near to far and vice-versa, the need for more light (a 45-year old requires four times as much light as a 19-year old to drive), colors become harder to see and peripheral vision narrows. Medications, both over the counter and prescription can affect driving, causing drowsiness, sapping energy, and slowing reaction times. In 2005, 191,000 people age 65 and older were injured in traffic crashes, accounting for 7 percent of all the people injured in traffic crashes during the year. Although older persons with health issues can be satisfactory drivers, they have a higher risk of injury or death in an accident, regardless of the fault. AAA Colorado has more than 500,000 members in Colorado and is an advocate for safety and security for all travelers. As North America’s largest motoring and leisure travel organization, AAA provides nearly 50 million members with travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services, as well as member-exclusive savings. ### Media: Sign up to receive news and updates from AAA. >>>> Click Here