Last Monday evening, a 95-year old driver perished in an accident when his car was involved in a head-on collision with a bus.

The elderly Porterville man was driving westbound in his 1995 Pontiac on Road 296 when he inexplicably drifted into the eastbound lanes. He crashed into the bus driven by Cheryl Lyn Seitz, 48, of Porterville.

He was taken to Community Regional Medical Center where he died. Three bus passengers, David Johnson, 41, and Angela Roberts, 38, of Lindsay, and Luz Carrillo, 34, of Porterville suffered minor injuries and were taken Sierra View District Hospital for treatment.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, there were 26 million Americans aged 70 years old and older living in the United States — approximately 67 percent these were also drivers. Now that baby boomers are fast becoming old, the growing number of elderly drivers now presents a serious road safety concern.

While elderly people do not get involved in as many crashes as teenagers, a number of them still lose their lives in fatal crashes. In 2008, as many as 4,268 people aged 70 and above were killed in motor vehicle crashes.

The main reason for fatality rates however, was the elderly driver’s fragility. Fragility or their risk of death in a crash increases around ages 60-64 and continues to rise with increasing age.

As drivers age, their physical, cognitive, and visual abilities may also decline. Most often, their vision starts to become impaired and they have slower reflexes. Also, many older drivers take medications for various age-related ailments. Medicine, whether prescription or over the counter, can impair driving ability at any age but can be especially impairing for an older driver.

So if you are an elderly driver, or know someone who continues to drive despite their old age and condition, it would be best to undergo screening the next time the license is to be renewed. It also isn’t advisable to take medication right before driving as some drugs can cause drowsiness and even trigger a DUI-related accident.

There is no general rule regarding elderly drivers being allowed to drive as long as they are able, therefore, it would be up to you, whether as the elderly driver or his/her family, to take appropriate measures to ensure that there is no road safety risk to avoid causing accidents.

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There was very little reason to celebrate and be grateful over the Thanksgiving weekend in California as the California Highway Patrol has reported an increase in traffic accident fatalities from last year.

While celebrities like Tiger Woods and David Hasselhoff’s ex-wife Pamela Bach had run-ins with the law for a single car crash and a DUI respectively, they were more fortunate than the 30 other people who were killed on California highways during Thanksgiving.

The CHP has noted that DUI was a major factor in most fatal road accidents. Across the state, nearly 1,314 drivers were arrested for DUI offenses by CHP officers during the first 84 hours of the Thanksgiving weekend.

One tragic motor vehicle accident involved a family of four from Sonoma who were killed by a suspected drunken teen driver. John Maloney, 45, Susan Maloney, 42, and their children Grace, 5, and Aiden, 8, died on impact. The driver, Steven Culbertson, 19 died on Sunday.

Last year, only 24 people were killed over the Thanksgiving weekend as compared to this year’s reported figure of 30 fatalities.

It is always inevitable that there will be alcoholic beverages served during holiday celebrations. More often than not, the beer and wine will be free-flowing over stuffed turkey and pumpkin pie.

While drinking and imbibing spirits is a part of the revelry, there is still no excuse for drinking and driving. Even a BAC of .05 percent increases a driver’s risk for a car crash significantly and this is roughly equivalent to 2-3 alcoholic drinks.

While having a drink or two during thanksgiving would seem harmless, there are just some risks not worth taking.

During occasions, if you intend to drink, have a designated driver. If you brought your own car but got drunk in the course of the celebration, get a cab. Driving drunk is a decision that could change your life forever.

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