Nashville Automobile Accident Attorney Discusses The Family Obligation To Have “The Conversation” With Elderly Parents
Elderly Drivers
As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney I try to keep my readers up on important issues. The other day I wrote about having “The Conversation” with our elderly parents. Studies have shown that older drivers have high death rates and lower rates of involvement in crashes that kill others. Relative to other age groups, drivers aged 85 and older face the highest risk of their own death, whereas teens pose the greatest risk to passengers, occupants of other vehicles, and non-motorists.
For example, the results of a recent study suggest that if a randomly-selected driver in his or thirties and a randomly-selected driver aged 85 or older were to drive equal numbers of miles, the older driver would be over 1500% more likely than the younger driver to be responsible for and die as a result of a crash, and about 220% more likely than the younger driver to kill an occupant of another vehicle or a non-motorist.
Reference a recent incident in Nashville involving an elderly driver on an interstate highway who hit four cars and a sign while driving. She kept on going and the 911 hotline lit up with callers from the scene. After she was stopped she was taken by ambulance to a local hospital. It’s unclear at this time the cause of the incident, maybe it was a medical emergency, a medication problem or it might have been time for this ladies family to step in and protect her by taking the car away.
In hindsight there were probably a number of signs that her family might have noticed that might have warned them that it was time to consider the possibility that she might need to relinquish her car keys. My prayers go out to the family and friends of this poor lady.
The lesson here is that families need to be proactive and avoid the inclination to avoid bringing up the topic with the ones we love. If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by an elderly driver contact the experienced Nashville auto accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.
Phillip Miller is a Tennessee Accident Attorney specializing in
Phillip has an AVVO rating of 10.0 (Superb), has been designated as a “Superlawyer”, and is the President Elect of the Tennessee Association for Justice.
Click Here to Contact Phillip
