I have been in the car dozens of times with my grandmother, Nanny Jo, as she likes to be called, and every time she drives, I get this feeling that she shouldn 't be driving. I don 't know what makes me feel that way, maybe it 's the fact that she is 78 years old and can barely see over the steering wheel or that she feels the majority rules of the road do not apply to her. I personally think it is because in 78 years of driving she has never been in a major accident and she feels impervious to accidents. As Nanny Jo has gotten older, my mom and aunt have discussed whether she should be driving. Each time they have come to the same conclusion that although it is a little dangerous for her to drive, the freedom she has to go to the park or visit
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This causes a big problem. You take away the autonomy of a large sector of society. Elder member of society who have jobs, families to visit, and things to do become immobile in areas without public transport. In Making Aging Positive, it is said that disempowered elderly are twice as likely to die than the empowered (2014). It is important to empower the elderly by encouraging their mobility; however, this is difficult when they are unfit to drive. There are many possible solutions to help move the elderly around, but one of the best ideas is one that was implemented in my hometown. In Chester County, Pennsylvania, we have a program called Rover for the elderly to move around. It is partially subsidized by the county and the customers pay for each ride. Customers can call in advance and a nice shuttle bus will pick them up and drop them off at any location they want for a small fee depending on the distance traveled. It is like Uber, but the larger shuttle bus allows for more riders and a reduced cost. Rover would allow the elderly who have lost their license to retain their freedom and mobility. One of the challenges to this idea to expanding nationwide is that increasing costs could prevent its implementation. As future rates of growth in the costs of labor and other inputs increase, this could inhibit society’s ability to provide affordable transportation services for the elderly (CBO,
This causes a big problem. You take away the autonomy of a large sector of society. Elder member of society who have jobs, families to visit, and things to do become immobile in areas without public transport. In Making Aging Positive, it is said that disempowered elderly are twice as likely to die than the empowered (2014). It is important to empower the elderly by encouraging their mobility; however, this is difficult when they are unfit to drive. There are many possible solutions to help move the elderly around, but one of the best ideas is one that was implemented in my hometown. In Chester County, Pennsylvania, we have a program called Rover for the elderly to move around. It is partially subsidized by the county and the customers pay for each ride. Customers can call in advance and a nice shuttle bus will pick them up and drop them off at any location they want for a small fee depending on the distance traveled. It is like Uber, but the larger shuttle bus allows for more riders and a reduced cost. Rover would allow the elderly who have lost their license to retain their freedom and mobility. One of the challenges to this idea to expanding nationwide is that increasing costs could prevent its implementation. As future rates of growth in the costs of labor and other inputs increase, this could inhibit society’s ability to provide affordable transportation services for the elderly (CBO,