Driving a car is not only about transportation. For most Americans, from sixteen to sixty plus, it is a symbol of freedom and independence. The excitement of getting your license at sixteen is as intense as the fear of losing it six decades later.

When is it time to give up driving? Is age a predictor of crashes? Should states legislate an age cut-off for ending the driving privilege like they do for initiating it? As with many questions related to aging, the answers are mixed.

Older drivers have fewer crashes than younger ones, but they also drive fewer miles. When calculated by miles driven per driver, the accident rate for drivers 50 and older is worse than for those in their middle years "Once you get past 65 or 70, statistically you will have a driving record similar to people in their teens and early twenties," says Ed Koenemann, coordinator of AARP's Driver Safety program in Vermont. As we age," he says, our risk of serious of serious injury or even dying in a crash increases dramatically."

Older drivers generally do not speed or drive recklessly or while drunk. They do have problems requiring quick responses, full vision, and interaction with other drivers. Their usual traffic violations include failure to yield the right-of-way, improper turning, incorrect lane-changing, illegal passing, and improper entering and leaving expressways.  Some of these problems are related to the aging process, particularly faulty vision. The older eye needs more light to see well. It is more sensitive to glare, has narrower peripheral vision, and adapts more slowly to darkness. Reaction time slows as we age, and depth perception and ability to judge speed and distance decreases. Hearing loss as well as reduced muscle strength and flexibility can also lead to driving errors.

But these sensory deficits related to age reflect the general picture, not each individual. People age at different rates; even body parts in the same individual age at different rates. Pointing out that he has worn bi-focals since he was thirty-five, Koenemann says, "You can't stop the aging process, but you can slow it, stabilize it, and learn to deal with it."

In two four-hour sessions, AARP's Driver Safety program helps you assess (a) where you are in terms of driver safety, (b) where you should be, and (c) how to get from (a) to (b). Koenemann and his thirty trained and certified instructors lead their students through exercises that show them, for example, what they see if they have a cataract or astigmatism. If you seem to have a problem, they suggest seeing a physician. Class workbooks list resources.

If you can no longer read words on a sign from a distance, they teach you to compensate by making sure that you understand the message from other cues, like the sign's shape or color. Driver Safety students learn that a circle always means railroad information, a triangle pointing down always means yield, a pennant means no passing. All drivers know what red or green signify, but they may not know that orange always means construction or that blue means rest area or hospital.

In 2006, Koenemann's crew taught 83 classes all over Vermont, with 1150 students completing the course. Although Vermont is not one of the 36 states that require insurance companies to offer a discount to AARP driving class graduates, some insurance companies do offer the discount. Koenemann advises drivers over 50 to call their company and ask.

If you decide to give up driving, there are some approaches that may help take the sting out of the decision. First, there are a few local public programs that provide rides. The Champlain Valley Agency on Aging keeps an updated list of these programs.

Second, by donating your car to Burlington's Good News Garage, you can get both the pleasure of helping a Vermonter in need and a reduction in your income tax. "I decided that it was time," says Kaye Babbitt of Shelburne. When she was 84, Babbitt donated her car to the GNG, a non-profit organization that takes car donations, repairs them as necessary, and gives them to low-income people. "I could have sold it," she says. "But I did get a nice deduction on my income tax. I would advise people to do the donation."

GNG started in Burlington in 1996, the brainchild of Hal Colston. Working with clients at Chittenden County Community Action, Colston had seen many people unable to get work because they had no transportation. He spent six months, he says, researching models for car donations and distribution to those in need, but he found none that focused on helping people. During this time, Lutheran Social Services of New England was encouraging local congregations to survey social needs in their areas. When it surveyed service providers in Chittenden County, Colston's church, the Good Shepard Lutheran Church in Jericho found transportation cited as a critical need. Colston described his idea, and GNG was born. It now serves all of Vermont, and it has programs in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut.

GNG receives about 1000 cars each year, says Vermont director Bruce Erwin. About 200 of theses are repairable and distributed to families. The rest are sold at auction. "We always need more cars," says Erwin. "We take practically any car in Chittenden County and most other cars throughout the state."

Colston estimates that 80 per cent of the people who receive cars are single women on welfare. He says that 75 per cent of the people on welfare who get cars get off welfare.

If your car is sold at auction, you may take the selling price as a tax deduction. If your car is repaired and given to a low-income family, you may deduct its market value.

John Lemkul of Shelburne donated his old car to the GNG when he bought a new one. He believes that "the concept is so important" that he volunteers regularly as a volunteer who goes out to pick up donated cars.

Another reason to smile when you give up driving: The American Automobile Association and the American Public Transportation Association estimate that the annual cost of driving a small car 10,000 miles is $5000 - $6000. If you drive a larger car more miles, the costs - and savings - are higher. The estimate includes operating costs, such as gas, oil, tires, and maintenance; and ownership costs, such as insurance, license, taxes, and depreciation. The savings come to over $100 per week – which could pay for many taxi rides.

More Information

• AARP Driver Safety. Contact Ed Koenemann, 802-223-6924, dkoe591@sover.net
• AARP Driver Safety Online, www.aarp.org/drive/online
• Good News Garage, 802-864-3667, www.goodnewsgarage.org

Barbara Leitenberg writes on senior issues for the Champlain Valley Agency on Aging. This article originally appeared in the Burlington Free Press.