SAFE ROADS FOR PEFESTRIAMS

Ever wonder why newer hybred car are noisy? I found an article in 2010 to explain the logic behind the underlying problem, your safety.

Safer Roads for Pedestrians

Our organizations representing the automobile industry and blind Americans are pushing to establish minimum noise levels for cars. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM), the Association
of International Automobile Manufacturers (AIAM), the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) are urging the U.S. Congress to include the provision as part of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010. Initially promoted
by the NFB and ACB, the safety issue has garnered active support from the auto industry. nearly silent operation of the newer hybrid
electric cars is dangerous not only to blind pedestrians but also to bicyclists, runners, and small children. A recent report released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration observed that hybrid and electric vehicles are nearly twice as likely to be involved in pedestrian related accidents as most cars and trucks. The
congressional bill is known as HR734 and is titled The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act.

Lifeglow

July - August 2010, Vol. 27, No 4

WE ARE OFF TO THE DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES

Today my son will take me to the DVMV to get a replacement ID card and Handicapped car tag. I lost both while traveling on two different trips.

ASKING FOR HELP

I haven't driven in 10 years and it was very hard at first. I had two small boys. The first thing it to let their coach or other adult in charge what your situations are. You need to find about four friends to rely on and rotate calling on them. you can state by carpooling which is what we did. We would have someone take our sons somewhere like soccer and my husband would pick up. That way you are both doing each other a favor. I had a hard time asking for help but you will get over that when the ones who really want to help come forward. My oldest son had a real problem with who I asked to help me out. He was very sensitive about it. He was only in sixth grade and didn't want to impose on anyone. I had a Southern Living party about four years ago and realized that everyone there were friends I had relied on over the years. You also might consider hiring someone to help out. I also called our church to see if they knew of anyone willing to help t. That is how I found my first driver who I hired for 18 months. I even have a niece who drove for someone else who couldn't drive. Don't be ashamed of having to ask for help.

When Is the Right Time to Take Older Drivers’ Keys Away?

Driving is something I don't even think about anymore. Ten years ago when I was having eye problems I came home from taking my son to the dentist and told my husband "that was it, I'm not going to drive until I can see". Little did I know I'd never drive again. It's been 10 years now and I don't even miss it. My husband's grandfather moved to Florida at 87 and they renewed his driver's license. He "drove"  or better yet scared the hell out of anyone who was in the car with him until he was 94. My in-laws flew there on Sept 10, 2011 to drive his car to their home. They drove to our home on their way home on Sept 13, 2011 the day I had my second surgery. I know it's hard to tell loved ones they can't drive anymore but it has to be done. I've post a story below about older drivers.

Taking the car keys away from an elderly relative is a heart-wrenching decision, but it's one that more families will face because of a growing elderly population.  "As the baby boomers get older, you'll see a lot of people having to give up their driving privileges," Suzanne Levin, director of the Cockeysville Senior Center, said. "It's a tough topic to talk about."
Levin said families of older motorists should keep an eye out for memory issues, confusion and disorientation in their loved ones. She also warns that some physical ailments, such as heart attacks, can cause slower reflexes, which will also impede driving ability.
Dr. Janet Sunness, medical director of the Greater Baltimore Medical Center’s Hoover Rehabilitation Services for Low Vision and Blindness, cites macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision loss in the elderly, as a primary health concern for older drivers.
“About 10 percent of people over the age of 75 have the condition,” Sunness said. “It’s a significant issue.”
But Sunness, also a member of the Motor Vehicle Administration Medical Advisory Board, said her philosophy is to let people drive as long as they safely can.
“If you look at elderly people, their driving needs are pretty straightforward. They go to church, see the kids, go shopping,” she said. “It’s a tough call to take away the keys for good, but there are options in between.”
The Motor Vehicle Administration’s Modified Vision Driving Program enables older drivers to stay on the road, with restrictions.
“The training is geared toward [motorists] driving safely,” Sunness said. “Many elderly people can’t see as well at night, are sensitive to glare, have a slower reaction time. The program addresses that.”
The Modified Vision Driving Program tests driving ability, and grants limited licenses accordingly. For example, some licenses may permit drivers to only drive within certain geographical boundaries, or during certain hours. Motorists are re-evaluated on a yearly basis.
But this isn’t an option for everyone.
Dr. Judah Ronch, dean of the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s Erickson School of Aging Studies, said talking to severely impaired elderly motorists about giving up their car keys is difficult but necessary.
“You can’t just have one conversation,” Ronch said. “You must have many. We shouldn’t expect them to say, ‘Sure, whatever you say.’”
Ronch urges families and friends to acknowledge that losing driving privileges is a threat to a person’s independence, but insists that the dangers of unsafe driving must be pointed out.
He also asks loved ones to step up and help elderly motorists get around.
“Because of the way we build communities, not being able to drive is a bad outcome,” Ronch said. “It takes a coordinated response.”
Ronch warns that as populations of elderly people increase, the issue will become even more prevalent.  
“It’s a big problem, and it’s only getting bigger.”

TELESCOPE FOR DRIVING

Years ago we were visiting some dear friends in Kansas City, Kirk and Karen.  
Karen was telling me about her father-in-law who had a detached retina like me. They went on a trip with him but were following him in their car. Karen pleaded with Kirk to pull over and take over driving his dad's car. She was alarmed because her father-in-law was using binoculars to drive. I've always laughed at that story until I read the article below.

Single bioptic telescope for low vision driving may not obscure road view of second eye

May 10, 2011 − Released by Schepens Eye Research Institute 

Boston, MA—A study by scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute shows that a bioptic telescope on one lens of a pair of glasses used to magnify traffic signs and lights may not prevent the wider view of the road with the second eye. The study results, which will be published in the May 2011 Archives of Ophthalmology, are the first evidence that--under more realistic viewing conditions than in earlier studies--the second eye can detect objects in the area obscured by the magnification effect of the telescope (called the ring scotoma).
"These study results are significant because they should ease official and public concerns about the safety of bioptic telescope use for driving with visual impairments," says Dr. Eli Peli, the principal investigator of the study, who is a low vision expert, a senior Schepens scientist, and a professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.
In previous studies, participants wearing the bioptic telescope were asked to view a blank (plain) background and focus on a simple fixation point—a cross— while detecting random visual targets presented to them, a task that requires little attention and concentration.
"Our current study required subjects to view more complex, textured backgrounds and focus on and read letters, which are more akin to visual situations encountered in real life and on the road," says Peli.
Bioptics, developed more than 100 years ago, are small telescopes that are attached above the center of one spectacle lens. A slight downward tilt of the head and upward shift of the eyes can bring a distant road sign or traffic light into view for people with vision impairments. When looking through the telescope, a blind area (scotoma) is created due to the magnification of the telescope. The blind area is in the shape of a ring surrounding what is seen through the telescope (hence the name "ring scotoma"). For instance, a person viewing a traffic light with the telescope will see the light, but will not be able to see the surrounding intersection, with the same eye. Although bioptics were introduced as driving aids 50 years ago and are approved for driving in 39 states, safety has remained a concern, in particular the effect of the ring scotoma on detection of traffic hazards. In some states this concern resulted in restricting the telescope to one eye only, leaving the other to monitor the area of the ring scotoma during telescope use.
In the Archives of Ophthalmology study, Amy Doherty, the first author, and the research team, conducted a series of tests evaluating the ability of the second (fellow) eye to detect targets in the area of the ring scotoma on both simple and complex backgrounds, with and without the bioptic telescope on one lens.
They began by fitting 14 subjects with bioptic glasses and used a novel display system that allowed them to present visual stimuli to each eye separately while both eyes were watching the screen. The team then "mapped" or determined the dimensions and position of the blind area (ring scotoma) in each subject's telescopic eye by presenting visual stimuli only to that eye.
Next, each subject underwent four viewing conditions while wearing the telescope in front of one eye, and the same four conditions without the telescope. In all cases, both eyes were open, while a visual stimulus or target (a small checkerboard square), presented to the second eye only, appeared randomly in different parts of the ring scotoma area. The subjects pressed a button whenever they saw the target.
The four conditions were: passively viewing a cross on a gray background, passively viewing a cross on a more complex textured background, actively reading letters on a gray background, and actively reading letters on the textured background. The textured background seen magnified in the telescopic eye resulted in a rivalry (competition) effect between the images from the two eyes that could result in the brain ignoring (suppressing) the image from the second eye. Any suppression of the second eye when looking through a bioptic telescope could potentially result in a traffic hazard not being noticed.
In all cases no significant difference was found between what the second eye saw when the first eye was using the telescope and when it wasn't using the telescope. With the bioptics, the second eye was able to detect the target 86 percent of the time, while without the bioptics, it detected the target 87 percent of the time. As expected, more targets were detected on a gray background than on a textured background and while focused on a simple cross than while reading letters.
"These results suggest that the bioptic driver may not be blind to traffic when looking through the telescope, because the second eye can detect targets in the area obscured by the telescope," says Doherty.
While the study results are encouraging, Peli and Doherty agree that it is still essential to test the use of bioptics in even more realistic circumstances.
"Our next testing conditions will be with video segments that closely mimic the visual scene and attention required during actual driving situations," says Doherty, who adds that over time, the research team also hopes to gather data from driving simulators and even actual on-the-road monitoring. 

 http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-05/seri-s050911.php

STATE DRIVING LAWS

I found this sight interesting since I moved to South Carolina from Mississippi with a driver's license but never changed my license to South Carolina. I drove for four months after we moved. After I lost my vision I never drove again. My husband's grandfather moved to Florida at 89 and had his driver's license renewed and drove for 5 more years. Thank God he never had a wreck. Go to the site below to see what your driving laws are.

http://www.ialvs.com/State-Driving-Laws