Mike and Andy want freedom.

 

Mike and I both retired recently and bought a pickup truck so that we can drive back and forth between our main home and cottage, carrying all of our project supplies. We love it there. We share the 90-minute drive as I need to stop and stretch part way and Mike has recurring neck pain when he drives. Still, we wonder if we should be making other adjustments and adaptations to make sure we can rely on our driving abilities well into our golden years.

Mike and Andy need an OT.

OLDER DRIVERS are the fastest-growing portion of the driving population, with roughly 4.9 million drivers over the age of 651. While older drivers have long been believed to be the safest and most cautious drivers on the road, when they are involved in collisions, they are more often injured, are slower to recover and are more likely to die from their injuries.

The occupational therapist helped Andy and Mike to:

  • Attend a CarFit event, where the OT observed them in their vehicle, asked them about their driving safety concerns and offered education about basic car adaptation devices and safe driving practices.

  • Ensure that they each had a clear line-of-sight over the steering wheel and the correct space between the front airbag in the steering wheel and their chest, and how to adjust the seat and seat belt accordingly.

  • Adopt the use of assistive devices to help with their specific conditions; like a Stander Handybar and a swivel seat cushion to help Andy get in and out of the car and a seatbelt reacher to take the strain off Mike’s neck.

  • Consider future strategies for driving safety and driving retirement based on how comfortable they each feel behind the wheel.

Because of occupational therapy, we can drive to the cottage.

CarFit is an education and awareness program delivered in Canada by the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT) and the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA).

1 Transport Canada (2019). "Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics: 2018." Retrieved September 24, 2020, from https://tc.canada.ca/en/road-transportation/motor-vehicle-safety/canadian-motor-vehicle-traffic-collision-statistics-2018


The Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT) provides a searchable national directory of occupational therapists for all Canadians to find the occupational therapy services they need.



Occupational therapy. Making the everyday possible.