Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 30, 1990 TAG: 9005300066
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LOIS KAPLAN COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When her husband was diagnosed with cancer last year, Marcus, 70, of Delray Beach, Fla., began asking her friends to take her shopping, to the doctor and on errands. Finally, she decided there is only one person she can depend on for transportation - herself.
She called a driving school and has been taking two 45-minute lessons a week.
So has Henrietta Block. Block, 64, stopped driving 30 years ago when back problems hindered her movements. But, like Marcus, she recently decided she no longer could rely on the charity of neighbors.
"I wanted to be more independent," said Block, also a Delray Beach resident. When her doctor told her she could drive again, she started taking brush-up lessons.
Senior women often counted on their husbands - or public transportation - to get around town. But many of them outlive their husbands. And since public transportation is not always available, more of these women are getting behind the wheel.
Al Torman, a Boynton Beach, Fla., driving instructor, said about 65 percent of his students are senior-citizen women learning to drive for the first time or brushing up on little-used skills.
"They feel like they're all thumbs," said Torman. "They fear they will hurt somebody, not necessarily themselves."
Still, they persevere.
Torman has found that backing out of parking spaces is a big problem for his senior students. And they often think too much about their movements, instead of using their instincts, he said.
Few senior men who never drove before seem to want to learn, Torman said.
"Women are willing to undertake more difficult things later in life," he said.
In Viginia, there are no special regulations regarding older drivers and no pending legislation on the subject. But in Florida, with its high percentage of older residents, the testing of elderly drivers has become a heavily debated issue in the Legislature. State Rep. Marian Lewis has introduced a bill that would require drivers over 80 to be tested for driving skills and vision.
Block favors such testing. "After a certain age, people should be tested. If you're over 80 and you haven't got all your faculties, it's time to give up your license," she said.
Torman agreed.
"As we get older, we lose our reflexes and eyesight," he said. "The testing would be a great benefit."
by CNB