The Influence of Health on Driving When You are Older

Your health is more important than your age if you want to be safe on the roads when behind the wheel. When you grow older, your abilities may change, which can impact your driving, depending on the significance of changes that takes place.

As an example, your reaction time may increase or your eyesight may weaken. This can impact your driving, especially when you are packed between cars or driving on a narrow road. Since these changes vary from person to person, age is a smaller concern than health when it comes to driving.

Vision

Generally, your eyesight weakens as you age. When you are older, your eyes require time to adjust to light changes. Thus, you may find difficulty in seeing during night. Your eyes also become more sensitive to the glares being emitted from other cars, which adds to the difficulty.

Peripheral vision declines with age, increasing chances of an accident. Diseases such as cataracts may also affect your driving ability.

Hearing Power

Your hearing power decreases when you age, which may make it harder for you to hear sirens, horns and other noises on the road. That means you aren’t alerted of potential dangers on the road.

Attention and Reaction Time

You can drive safely only when you focus, and react quickly to changes. There are times when you must make sudden decisions, and quickly maneuver your car to avoid a crash. When you age, you take more time to process information, and your attention span also shortens. Consequently, you may find it difficult to deal with cars, pedestrians, signals and signs all at the same time.

Physical Changes

Your joints may grow stiff with time and you may feel pain in your knees or legs, and this may make it harder for you to pump your car.