Do other cars or people or cats seem to appear out of nowhere and don’t stop before you do? Worse, are the brake and gas pedals getting further away and the steering wheel growing … blocking your line of vision? Do other drivers frequently honk before you get a chance to honk first? Have you had accidents, even “fender benders” you don’t remember having, or discover dents that mysteriously appear on your fenders over night? Do you get lost, even on roads you know; while leaving your own driveway?
Have family, friends, or even your doctor worried about your driving, and they don’t mean across the golf course … unless of course you are in an automobile? Then you also should worry.
If you answered YES to any of these questions, you should consider seriously whether or not you are a loose nut. If you answered NO to all these questions, double check the list as if it’s your food and bar tab at the local plush-plush food castle.
It takes thousands of bolts to hold a car together, and one nut like you to scatter it over the highway, and most of the time you won’t be the one hurt.
Driving is a privilege, a pleasure, precarious at any age, independence extraordinaire, and an unparalleled breakthrough for getting from point A to point B since the invention of walking, or even running … but not very good as an aerobics activity … unless you’re pushing the car. In the bygone days it was the most comfortable way to take a date to the Drive-in Movie. These days, it is a fact, if you are on the freeway, best to be in a car.
Most of us have been driving for a long time, but along comes a haunting issue, a life-changing consideration, ‘when is long too long, or too too long?’ We all age differently, or so they say; which raises the questions, ‘when should you hit the bricks with your clodhoppers or hop on a bus? Or ‘what age should be the upper limit for driving?’ So, how do you know if you should bring to an end to a lifetime driving experience? Several states have mandatory limitation regulations of one sort or another; annual tests after a certain age, and things like that.
But some people don’t have to lose sleep over this predicament. For instance, if you are steering a piece of farm equipment across 40 flat acres, no need to fret about hitting your neighbor’s bumper. If you are on a dodge-em car at the county fair, don’t be troubled … aim at that friend who owes you money. Golf carts on the golf course are OK. But, if you race cars for a living, maybe you should think about cutting back on the races … unless you’re Paul Newman.
You don’t want to be the character in this punch line – ‘Mildred, you just ran 3 red lights.’ And she responds, ‘Oh, am I driving?’
If you must hang on, plan to drive streets you know, limit the trips, steer clear of risky spots like ramps and left turns at busy intersections, allow extra time, and most of all don’t forget to put on your glasses and keep them clean so you can see what you don’t want to hit.
“It just goes to show yah, you never really learn to swear until you learn to drive”, said an anonymous philosopher, probably while in rush hour traffic … probably behind you.
This is one of the many articles in my book, How to Have Fun with retirement.
www.funwithretirement.com
