Word: haugen
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...first thing Peter Haugen noticed was that the dents in his mom's car were multiplying. Then the Osterville, Mass., software engineer learned that his mother, 85, had confused the brake and the gas pedal and ended up, unhurt, atop a stone wall. He pleaded with her to stop driving. He spoke to her doctor. He even persuaded her to see a geropsychologist...
Nothing worked. Like many older drivers, she clung to her license to preserve her mobility as well as her sense of independence and identity. But on July, 16, 2003, Haugen decided he had to do more. On that day, an 87-year-old driver made national headlines when he plowed into a Santa Monica, Calif., farmer's market, killing 10 people. "I told my sister," he recalls, "'We gotta get going on this. There but for the grace...
Enlisting the aid of their mother's doctor, her minister and the local police, Haugen and his sister persuaded their mom to get a driving assessment at the DriveWise program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She failed. Mom was off the road, and--who knows?--perhaps another fatal accident was averted...
...Haugen's call was one of a flood received by DriveWise director Lissa Kapust and other driving-safety centers around the country following the Santa Monica horror. For years, experts on highway safety and aging had been crying, "The boomers are coming! The boomers are coming!" But until Santa Monica, government and foundations had been sluggish in responding to the scary statistics. In seven years, the oldest boomers will turn 65; by 2030, 1 out of 4 drivers will be 65 or older. Not all older drivers pose safety hazards, but people 75 and older have more fatal crashes than...
...hope the world is still here the next time Halley's comet comes around. Kristine Haugen Downers Grove, Ill. Challenging Marcos...