I NEED YOUR INPUT ;

[Legacy Posts]

June and Frank, I am delighted to hear that you folks are going to get
a fiberglass trailer. I sure hope you keep us posted on all your travels.
Not only will it make for inspirational reading but it will also be most helpful for others your age contemplating getting a trailer.

I am curious about some aspects of the Florida test. Testing strength,
balance, and mobility seems inapplicable. Parapalegics and others with
mobility, balance and strength impairments regularly earn drivers' licences by passing vision, traffic regulation and road tests. The parts of the tests that seem to be testing IQ (all animals with M, repeat this story etc.) are equally strange as we don't test IQ for others applying for a licence. It's always been (rightly) assumed that if you can pass the written and road tests you're smart enough.(Are a lot of elderly Floridians running over Manatees and unable to tell highway patrol what it was they struck?)

Not being a constitutional law expert I'm nonetheless confident that
these Florida laws don't pass "equal protection of the laws" in the
14th Amendment ('course that's happened before in Florida!).

On a more down to earth note you might want to investigate what
your local chapter of AAA and AARP can do for you with regards to
test preparation etc. Both of these organizations are dedicated to
keeping qualified elderly drivers behind the wheel. Good luck and thanks for the update!

[Legacy Posts]

The M words and story repeating, plus drawing the time on a clock, have nothing to do with IQ, but they have everything to do with memory. All are used for testing of cognitve defects and forms of dementia,ie: alzhiemers. I know people who could pass the drivers test, but at times can't remember what the stop sign means. They can also tell you what they may have done four years ago, but can't tell you what they had for breakfast. I had to make other transportation means for a family member because it was no longer safe for her to be on the road. She still could drive well, she just couldn't remember where she was going to or how to get back, plus she may not recognize a traffic sign, or remember the difference between red and green. She was also very good at hiding the problem. Age has nothing to do with this, it's just that this disease process generally starts to manifest itself in upper years.

[Legacy Posts]

I was really impressed with the 'recipe' for driver's testing in Florida. With that list of activities, I would be hard pressed to pass it today. But it is simply not true. :shg Florida's new law only tests vision, and not until a driver hits 80 years old. The law also mandates the state to come up with transportation alternatives for seniors who lose their licenses. Listed are several sources to check on that claim. :E

http://www.nbc6.net/news/2340985/detail.html

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/05/02/news_pf/...ehind_the.shtml

http://www.naplesnews.com/03/06/naples/d921532a.htm

[Legacy Posts]

9000km trip to make date
August 3 2003
The Sun-Herald

An 85-year-old Englishman took his ageing campervan on a round trip of more than 9000 kilometres so that he could buy his sweetheart a surprise dinner.

Douglas Garner's gesture took him 9470 kilometres from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, to Turkey where 77-year-old Dorothea Maidment was on holiday with a friend.

Eating and sleeping in his two-berth, 12-year-old van, it took Mr Garner six days to reach the resort of Fethiye in southern Turkey.

After buying Mrs Maidment dinner, Mr Garner stayed in Turkey for only a day and a half before heading home.

"It was absolutely fantastic," said Mrs Maidment, a widow. "He said that he would like to come down to Fethiye, but I never expected him to show up."