Is it time to get off the road

Danielle Switalski

The winter months are unfortunately upon us and the people of Sanders County have to prepare themselves for tough driving conditions. 

For some people, driving in general gets harder and harder whether it is due to poor eye sight or old age.  For Jim Borowski, AARP facilitator, he felt this way about his father; he felt it was no longer safe for his father to be out and about driving.  For Borowski, the hardest part about his father driving was approaching him in an attempt to take his keys and get him off the road.  But for most people, driving is a huge part of their life. Driving is their freedom, their connection to the world and of course, a way to get from point A to point B. 

Eventually Borowski’s father did stop driving, however, he said the transition would have been a lot smoother and quicker had he had the information provided in this seminar on ways to approach an ageing driver who should give up driving for safety reasons. 

So how do you approach someone about taking their keys away because it is simply no longer safe for them to be driving?

Borowski asked himself the same question.  He found the answer in a seminar called “We Need to Talk: Conversations with Older Drivers,” which teaches family and friends of older drivers when it is time to ‘take away their keys’ and different ways to go about it.  After attending one of these seminars put on by AARP, Borowski felt the information provided was so helpful he decided he would host some seminars and help spread the information.

“It (the seminar) is aimed at adult children and care givers dealing with an older adult who has reached the point where it’s no longer safe for them to be on the road, and how to talk to that person about limiting their driving and stopping driving altogether,” said Borowski.

It is perfect timing for Borowski to bring this seminar to Plains and Thompson Falls, as winter approaches and driving conditions worsen and the ice and snow take over Montana roads. The seminar will be held on November 19 at the Thompson Falls court house at 10 a.m. and again at the Clark Fork Valley Hospital in Plains at 2 p.m.

The hour and a half seminar is three fold.  First, said Borowski, the seminar focuses on the meaning of driving and what it actually means to the individual because what driving means to a specific person will influence the way in which they are approached.  Borowski said, for example, one person could not care at all about driving, but another might have been a truck driver their whole life and driving might mean much more to them. 

“We all have different perceptions for what driving means to us,” said Borowski. 

The second part of the seminar focuses specifically on what constitutes a problem in driving and how concerned individuals can analyze a person’s driving to see if there is an actual problem.

And the last part of the seminar shows people how to actually have a conversation with the driver, which, said Borowski is one of the “toughest nuts to crack with that person.”

Borowski said this is becoming more of an issue because people are living longer and tend to live seven to ten years beyond their safe driving life.

The seminar is free to any and all facing this issue and for those who simply want to prepare for the future as their family and friends get older. 

Please contact Darrel Torgrimson of Thompson Falls at 827-4735 for more information.