Seniors for Safe Driving visits Upper St. Clair
George Barrett of Lawrence is an older driver and knows that can lead to driving problems.
“I really should not drive at night,” said Barrett, who declined to give is age because his wife doesn’t want people to know how old she is.
“She figures people will think we are close enough in age,” he said.
Barrett and a handful of senior citizens participated in the Seniors for Safe Driving Program Dec. 11 at the Upper St. Clair Recreation Center on Mayview Road.
The program helps participants, who are 55 and older, to understand the risk, how to manage the area around their car with good visual techniques, how to manage car speed and how to share the road with other drivers. The program also shows seniors how to handle and manage driving emergencies and how to compensate for visual changes, said Desiree Simpson, office manager of Seniors for Safe Driving, based in Butler.
“It’s all done in a classroom setting,” said Simpson, adding that course participants do not get behind the wheel. Seniors for Safe Driving, the American Automobile Association (AAA) and the American Association of Retired People (AARP) are the three organizations in Pennsylvania that have been sanctioned by the state Department of Transportation to offer safety driving courses for seniors.
People who complete the driving program are given a certificate, which will qualify them to receive a discount on their car insurance. Insurance discounts for participants are five percent and sometimes higher for a three-year period. Once the three-year period expires, the person needs to take a refresher course to continue to receive his discount on insurance. One person who attended the Dec. 11 class said he was told by his insurance company he will save $85 every six months, or a three-year savings of $510.
“I am here for the insurance savings,” Barrett said. “And because my wife told me to.”
AAA said recently that nine out of 10 people 65 and older are still driving. Plus, 70 percent of drivers 65 and older favor more frequent driving tests to get their licenses renewed. In Pennsylvania, a driver’s license must be renewed every four years. In neighboring Ohio, it’s every four years and in West Virginia, it’s once every five years.
According to PennDOT, there are an estimated 26 million people in the U.S. who are 70 and older – 67 percent of which are still driving.
“Age has nothing to do with individual driving skills,” said Bob Wehrle, a certified instructor who taught the Upper St. Clair class. He said older drivers tend to have less automobile accidents and the cause tends to be related to medications, rather than driver error.
“For the most part, older drivers have less accidents,” he said.