Senior Care: The Days are Getting Shorter- Make Sure Mom and Dad Drive Safely in the Dark

• Eye Check-up
  The first and most important thing that needs to be taken into consideration is going to be the eye checkup. You need to go to an eye-care professional who will be able to give a full evaluation to your senior parent. Of course, there is no easy way to test for nighttime vision, but a general vision test should be the most simple and effective thing that can be done. Make sure that their prescriptions are up-to-date, in order to give them a good chance of being able to see while they drive. Take your time and evaluate all of the available options, and make sure that they have all of the resources that they need to be able to see at night.

•  Car Check-up
  Second, you should have the car checked out to make sure that it is going to be a reliable piece of transportation. Take it to a local auto body shop, where they can go over all of the different things that need to be taken into consideration throughout the process. A car check-up should include making sure that all of the different lights work including brake lights and headlights, a thorough investigation of the engine to make sure that there are no underlying issues that have gone undetected, and also to make sure that the car does not present a safety risk to your senior parent.

•  Comfort
  You also need to make sure that your senior parent is actually comfortable driving in the darkness. Not everyone is comfortable driving at night, and if they are not comfortable doing so, perhaps you can make arrangements for them to avoid driving at night as much as possible. Speak to them candidly about whether not they are comfortable driving and night, and perhaps you can come up with a solution that will include you driving them during darkness whenever they require it. This is a key consideration when helping a senior parent to safely drive, and also be comfortable doing so.