CarFit Event helps seniors be safer on the road

VIRGINIA BEACH

Before Thursday, 87-year-old Margaret Perdue could barely see above her steering wheel.

So her daughter May Scott Sutelan drove her to a free car-fitting at AAA Tidewater Virginia's Corporate Center.

During the CarFit Event for seniors, a technician helped Perdue adjust her seat, steering wheel and mirrors so that she is safer on the road.

"We thought that if she knew how to adjust her seat so that she can see as much as possible of her surroundings... she could be a safer driver," said Sutelan, 66.

Last year, seniors were involved in nearly 16,000 vehicle crashes in Virginia, and 7 percent of those were fatal, according to a CarFit news release from AAA Tidewater Virginia. Thursday's event aimed to reduce those numbers.

More than 25 seniors participated. The goal, besides improving safety, was to help them maintain their independence, said Kathy Miller, director of long-term care for the Virginia Department for the Aging, which helped host the event through its Virginia GrandDriver program.

"The nice thing about CarFit is that it doesn't have anything to do with people having to give up their keys or thinking about stopping driving," she said. "What we're trying to do is to keep people driving safely for as long as possible."

During the event, technicians walked each driver through a 12-point safety checklist. They adjusted their head rests, checked their line of sight above the steering wheel, honked their horns and examined their lights and tires.

Glenny White, 87, learned she needs a new foam wedge for her seat so that she can see better.

The most frequent problem: side-view mirrors, said Georjeane Blumling, vice president of public relations for AAA Tidewater Virginia, which co-hosted the event.

"Most seniors have their mirrors adjusted so they have large blind spots on both sides of their cars," she said. "That's particularly dangerous for seniors because they don't have the range of motion to compensate for blind spots like a younger person might be able to do."

Amsbry Mitchell, 84, got some help adjusting his side-view mirrors. He's been driving for 67 years, he said.

"I'm almost born again," he joked after his 20-minute session. "When you've been driving since you were 17 years old... you get lackadaisical sometimes. So it's good to get reinforced again on things that you wouldn't normally think about, like the mirrors."

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com