Driving with dementia

[Grandad]

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/walsall/2018/10/08/biker-died-after-crash-with-88-year-old-driver-inquest-hears/

If the dementia was so bad that the driver could not remember the crash the next day why was he still driving.

[Cunobelin]

The question is whether he truly cannot recollect, or as in many cases it is simply a ruse to prevent prosecution?

If it is genuine, the other problem is recognising dementia at a point where it is developing.

Looking back we should have spotted this when my mother started saying "You know who I mean" or "The woman who works in ...."

She was still driving, but the trigger for us was when there were roadworks and she could not work out her way home off her usual route

We stopped her driving, with the assistance of the GP, but this met with a lot of resentment.

Perhaps we should have stopped her earlier..... maybe if we had realised

Was she dangerous.... possibly, but as she always drove on he own, we were not making assessments

Not an easy question to answer

[[XAP]Bob]

Does an inability to remember yesterday necessarily stop you being safe now?

No doubt for a lot of people it's just one symptom amongst many that would make it unsafe...

[foxyrider]

Well i've never been good with names and I often don't even recall what I had for lunch come the evening. OTOH I do have a good memory for what Ithink is important, how to do stuff navigation and so on. So i'd fail a dementia test on the former but pass on the latter - it's probably not possible to spot Dementia early easily - especially if you are in close contact with the person in question.

These incidents do happen, not just with dementia but with eyesight too, an aging population exacerbates matters. No one wants to admit their faculties are failing and so we go on beyond where we should. We all hope it won't be us but it could easily be.

[iandriver]

Dementia isn't just a loss of memory, it's as much a kind of distorted reality in many cases, which is where trying to reason gets tricky. Moods change vastly too in some cases. The loss of brain function lies in many areas. We are all going to come across this in our time now days. I'd urge anyone to become a dementia friend or at least watch the video.
https://www.dementiafriends.org.uk

They'll say it better than I ever can.

[Cunobelin]

Well i've never been good with names and I often don't even recall what I had for lunch come the evening. OTOH I do have a good memory for what Ithink is important, how to do stuff navigation and so on. So i'd fail a dementia test on the former but pass on the latter - it's probably not possible to spot Dementia early easily - especially if you are in close contact with the person in question.

These incidents do happen, not just with dementia but with eyesight too, an aging population exacerbates matters. No one wants to admit their faculties are failing and so we go on beyond where we should. We all hope it won't be us but it could easily be.

Ironically though the stats suggest that as a group they are still safer than younger drivers

[awavey]

Does an inability to remember yesterday necessarily stop you being safe now?

No doubt for a lot of people it's just one symptom amongst many that would make it unsafe...

dementia is certainly more than just memory loss, it impacts concentration, hand/eye coordination and I think people with dementia find it harder to process information to make time critical decisions they panic more under pressure and if theres too much information for them to process, they sort of get overloaded, confused, which makes them freeze up.

none of which you really want in someone nominally in sole control of a tonne and a half of metal. and those really are just the early types of symptoms where day to day they can appear to be just a little more clumsy and forgetful.

but I think this will become a growing problem as the baby boomers are really the first generation where car ownership has been around their whole life, and their life expectancy means they face alot more unknown challenges like this than their parents ever did.

[Barks]

Which is why driverless cars will happen IMO, demanded by the baby boomer generation in order to maintain their mobility as they age having got used to private weather proof travel on demand over their lifetimes. Personally, I have bought a house in a small town with a good range of shops and services within reasonable walking distance/time (10-15 mins), I have my eye on a tricycle in due course, possibly with electric assist, and after that we’ll see. If I want to go further then bus, train, taxi will probably suffice. It will also be cheaper than the lump of metal on my drive which I am learning to use less and less.

All this of course still may not be a complete solution if the worst should befall my mental faculties but at least I won’t be endangering everyone else during the course of my decline.

By the way, I am a youngish baby boomer.

[Psamathe]

Does an inability to remember yesterday necessarily stop you being safe now?

No doubt for a lot of people it's just one symptom amongst many that would make it unsafe...

dementia is certainly more than just memory loss, it impacts concentration, hand/eye coordination and I think people with dementia find it harder to process information to make time critical decisions they panic more under pressure and if theres too much information for them to process, they sort of get overloaded, confused, which makes them freeze up.......

My father (who is nor quite bad with vascular dementia) used to love music (jazz) but now hats noise and can't make sense of it. He can't listen to music and the only TV he can tolerate is the news (which he has to watch lunchtime and evening although he forgets what is being reported before the end of each report).

Ian

[Cunobelin]

Does an inability to remember yesterday necessarily stop you being safe now?

No doubt for a lot of people it's just one symptom amongst many that would make it unsafe...

dementia is certainly more than just memory loss, it impacts concentration, hand/eye coordination and I think people with dementia find it harder to process information to make time critical decisions they panic more under pressure and if theres too much information for them to process, they sort of get overloaded, confused, which makes them freeze up.......

My father (who is nor quite bad with vascular dementia) used to love music (jazz) but now hats noise and can't make sense of it. He can't listen to music and the only TV he can tolerate is the news (which he has to watch lunchtime and evening although he forgets what is being reported before the end of each report).

Ian

My mother went through a down spell earlier this year.... then we had a brainwave.

The home had England Flags around the rooms and communal areas for the footie.

Changed the flags in her room to Saltires, and her mood immediately improved.

[nez]

Which is why driverless cars will happen IMO, demanded by the baby boomer generation in order to maintain their mobility as they age having got used to private weather proof travel on demand over their lifetimes. Personally, I have bought a house in a small town with a good range of shops and services within reasonable walking distance/time (10-15 mins), I have my eye on a tricycle in due course, possibly with electric assist, and after that we’ll see. If I want to go further then bus, train, taxi will probably suffice. It will also be cheaper than the lump of metal on my drive which I am learning to use less and less.

All this of course still may not be a complete solution if the worst should befall my mental faculties but at least I won’t be endangering everyone else during the course of my decline.

By the way, I am a youngish baby boomer.

Ditto. We have to learn to change