Senior Driving Challenges

Seniors face driving challenges that younger people don't. We need big, bold buttons in cars like those oversized numbers on phones. Yesterday, I got in my car and had to yank off my sunglasses just to find the seat adjustment button. It’s not because the car is new to me; I’ve had it for seven years. It’s because the button is practically camouflaged. In their quest for sleek interiors, car manufacturers have made buttons so subtle they’re practically invisible to aging eyes.

in this pic the seat control buttons are easier to see

Adding to the irony, David Bowie’s Golden Years was playing while I squinted at the dashboard. Golden Years? More like Fuzzy Years.

Newer cars are even worse. More features, more buttons (or confusing screen menus). Our car has cooled seats (great for Florida) and six color options for ambient lighting. But good luck finding the right button when you want to change something.

red ambient lighting in cup holders - they were blue, but I couldn't figure out how to change them

My friend says she won’t buy a new car because there are too many new gadgets and she doesn’t want to have to relearn how to use a car.

At least our car has a 492-page car manual. It tells us everything we could ever want to know if we had a magnifying glass strong enough to read it. A friend needed help changing the battery in her remote key. Her skimpy manual only named the buttons, but at least it was large print. If ours came in large print, it would be too big for the glove compartment, we’d have to store it in the trunk.

But I think there’s a fix for this. With today’s technology, why not put the manual on the car’s screen with a simple search function? Eco-friendly and practical.

Speaking of screens, my husband recently updated the navigation system. The once colorful, easy-to-read maps are now a minimalist nightmare. Now, everything is white on blue. Exit signs used to be green, like real-life highway signs. Now? Blue. Blending in with everything else. Not great for anyone with aging eyes that depend on color contrast for a quick glance.

blue on blue - boring and hard to spot distinctions

Side note on modern cars: We watch 25 Words or Less, a game show where contestants get their teams to guess a word by giving other words as clues. One night, Matt Iseman (also from American Ninja Warrior) gave the clue “Google search engine” to get his team to guess Chrome. No one got it. I told hubby, “He could have used 'car bumper material.'” But then I remembered, chrome bumpers disappeared in 1972. That’s over 50 years ago. The contestants probably hadn't been born then. Ugh, nothing like a game show to make you feel ancient.

But at least I can still drive. The day will come when I’ll hand over my keys and rely on community transport. Luckily, our community has trams to get us around, hired cars for doctor’s visits, and a bus that runs to Walmart, the grocery store, and Trader Joe’s. Want to see a play or a symphony? There’s a bus for that, too (small fee, but worth it).

Many residents keep their golf carts after giving up their cars. It’s safer riding around the community at 15 MPH than at 55 MPH on the congested roadways.

Of course, vision isn’t the only driving hazard. The other day, I was riding my golf cart back from the clubhouse when I hit a roadblock: two guys chatting, one completely blocking the path. A woman on a bike approached from the other direction. One man asked if I needed to pass. I said I’d wait for the cyclist. He didn’t hear me. The cyclist passed, and the man blocking the path kept chatting away, oblivious that I still needed to get through. Another friend had to nudge him over. Makes you wonder how dangerous he could be driving his cart or car.

Finally, if vision and hearing don’t impair a person’s driving, Florida has the oldest population in the country, which likely means more drivers with cognitive impairments. That’s a recipe for trouble: mixing up the gas and brake, getting lost mid-trip, and getting confused at intersections. Yet Florida isn’t even in the top 10 states for fatal accidents per capita. Mississippi holds that honor. However, when it comes to total crashes per capita,  Florida ranks third.

Even with sharp vision, keen hearing, and a fully functioning brain, you can still lose your car in a parking lot. Mine was in one of those garages with half-levels that zig-zag; confusing on a good day, downright impossible when you forget where you parked. I hit the remote lock button to make the horn beep. Nothing. Too far away. So, I climbed to the next level. Still nothing. Finally, I caught a faint beep in the distance but couldn’t spot the flashing lights. Panic set in. If I didn’t find the car soon, I’d be stuck in rush-hour traffic. Six agonizing minutes later (it felt like hours), there it was, mocking me from the level I had checked twice already.

But I’m grateful I can still drive, despite the disappearing buttons and frustrating screens. And when my driving days end, I’ll join the tram crowd. From what I see when I pass them on the cart paths, those seniors are having a blast. Who knows? Maybe they’re actually party trams.