On September 5, 2014, a terrible accident occurred on a highway known as I-96 in Michigan. The victims were Leslie and Donna Laymon. Leslie is 83 years old and his wife Donna was 81. While driving along the highway Leslie somehow became confused and started driving on the wrong side of the road. He hit another car head on resulting in the death of his wife. His car went airborne and ended up on the next highway over. He survived the accident but was in bad condition. The other car had 80 year old Donald and 79 year old Shirley Vanhoeven. They were driving the correct way but weren’t paying attention and couldn’t go around Lesie. They also ended up in bad shape but survived (Gursten, 2014). It’s a scary experience to be in a car accident, and
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Driving is a continuous decision making process. Thinking about what to do on the spot requires a sharp mental process. Even little tasks like remembering directions to avoid getting lost is important. Diane Howieson, neuropsychologist and professor at Oregon Health & Science University, states that, “... When switching from one task to another, the elderly have more difficulty paying attention to multiple lanes of traffic, for example, or noticing if someone is about to step off a curb at a busy intersection” (Howieson, 2015). While senior citizens are considered the wisest, they still have some faults. With overall health decreasing, choosing what to do can be challenging at times and can cause frustration among others who don't understand. Road rage is dangerous and when there is a senior driving too slow or someone who can’t decide which lane to go in, problems may occur. Howieson agrees that paying attention is a mandatory quality for any driver and without that ability it can be quite scary. Operating a car is not necessarily easy when memory and other cognitive traits are failing. When a person is first learning to drive, figuring out all the controls and buttons is a challenge, and it can be the same way when one starts to forget. Madeline R. Vann indicates that Alzheimer's affects 11 out of every 100 people... While there are different levels of the effects of the disease, eventually every person that has it becomes greatly impaired, and often will not be able to remember anything (Vann, 2016). Alzheimer's is just one of many memory failing diseases that affect a large number of people per year. Since this disease is so hard to diagnose, there are people out there on the roads right now driving with Alzheimer's. If more tests were put in place people suffering from Alzheimer's would have more protection.
Driving is a continuous decision making process. Thinking about what to do on the spot requires a sharp mental process. Even little tasks like remembering directions to avoid getting lost is important. Diane Howieson, neuropsychologist and professor at Oregon Health & Science University, states that, “... When switching from one task to another, the elderly have more difficulty paying attention to multiple lanes of traffic, for example, or noticing if someone is about to step off a curb at a busy intersection” (Howieson, 2015). While senior citizens are considered the wisest, they still have some faults. With overall health decreasing, choosing what to do can be challenging at times and can cause frustration among others who don't understand. Road rage is dangerous and when there is a senior driving too slow or someone who can’t decide which lane to go in, problems may occur. Howieson agrees that paying attention is a mandatory quality for any driver and without that ability it can be quite scary. Operating a car is not necessarily easy when memory and other cognitive traits are failing. When a person is first learning to drive, figuring out all the controls and buttons is a challenge, and it can be the same way when one starts to forget. Madeline R. Vann indicates that Alzheimer's affects 11 out of every 100 people... While there are different levels of the effects of the disease, eventually every person that has it becomes greatly impaired, and often will not be able to remember anything (Vann, 2016). Alzheimer's is just one of many memory failing diseases that affect a large number of people per year. Since this disease is so hard to diagnose, there are people out there on the roads right now driving with Alzheimer's. If more tests were put in place people suffering from Alzheimer's would have more protection.