By KATH GANNAWAY
AS Wesburn’s Myra Healey prepared to say goodbye to the red Rover that has been part of her local identity for almost 40 years, she said it was an inevitable farewell.
Myra, 96, was a late achiever when it came to getting a licence.
“We lived in North Melbourne before moving up here, and you really didn’t need a licence to get around down there,” she said.
Wesburn was a different story and it was around the early 50s that she took to the road. “RedRov” was a gift from her son in 1975.
Red wasn’t her colour of choice, she recalls, but it has grown on her and she said while she was sad to see the snazzy little Rover move on, it was inevitable.
Hearing of so many incidents involving older drivers, Myra stopped driving six months ago after recognising that her health simply wasn’t up to the demands of driving.
It was a decision she made for herself and by herself.
“I have never been advised to give up driving, by my doctors, or family,” she said.
With an alarming increase in crashes involving older drivers, she said she just didn’t want to take any chances that she might put herself or others at risk.
Although she is as sharp as a tack mentally and has never had an accident, she said she felt it was in one of the most important skill areas of driving that she was not as confident as she had been in the past – anticipation.
“It’s not just about how you are driving, you have to be fully aware and able to react to any situation, not necessarily brought on by yourself,” she said.
Physically, she says she is also compromised by a lack of strength in her arms and was concerned that should she have to react suddenly to avoid a crash, or even an animal on the road, she may not have the strength to manage the car.
She does however back calls for a new regime for older drivers.
Victoria is the only state without compulsory restrictions for older drivers which includes mandatory retesting and annual medical checks and there are calls now to introduce such measures here.
Myra believes it would be a sensible move for those over 75 years of age to have regular medical checks and those above 85 years of age should be made to resit the driving test.
VicRoads on their ‘Older Drivers’ website however say it’s not all doom and gloom for older drivers, there’s good news and bad news.
They say while older drivers are actually involved in fewer crashes (the good news) the risk of them being more severely injured takes a dramatic spike at around 74 to 75 years of age.
The tendency to drive shorter distances and restrict driving to times and situations where they feel safe is advantageous, as is their tendency to be more cautious, responsible and law abiding in terms of speeding and drink driving.
It’s the fragility that comes with age, and which Myra says has contributed to her difficult decision, that is “the bad news”.
Illness and physical changes that come with ageing, including vision, memory and thinking, increase the risk of older drivers being involved in a crash. That fragility can also mean more severe repercussions from injuries.
The Victorian Older Drivers’ Handbook available at VicRoads’ customer service centres is a valuable resource to help older drivers to continue to drive safely and there is also information for family and carers.
For Myra, while losing “RedRov” is in many ways a loss also of the independence she has had for so many years, making the decision to stop driving is very much another way of enjoying the independence that comes from still being able to make those decisions for herself.
