The End of the Road

August 4, 2013

There is perhaps no single activity of daily living that reinforces one’s basic right of independence more than driving oneself. Few daily actions carry the psychological and social significance of driving. It validates one’s self-sufficiency, self-worth, and social trust. At the same time, few instrumental activities require the successful coordination of so many abilities of both mind and body. These two videos—Old People Driving and Into the Other Lane—illustrate how age-related cognitive slowing and serious-disease-associated cognitive impairment affect driving ability and how individuals and their families respond to this challenge.

Though each of these videos has “stand alone” value, there is an advantage to bundling them; together, they cover this full continuum of possible loss quite effectively and illustrate a wide array of personal and social consequences, as well as options for prevention and amelioration. It is also convenient that each video contains a scene selection menu that allows one to choose smaller segments for presentation.

Read full review in The Gerontologist