Image by a-n-v-e-s-h on Unsplash.
The last time I drove a car was in July of 2005. That was nearly 19 years ago. And I don’t miss it.
People ask me, “Did you decide you were too old to drive anymore?”
Actually no. I was tired of driving. Taking the car for oil changes and tire rotations. Washing the car. Making left turns. Getting stuck in traffic. Watching the rearview mirror for flashing red lights. No thanks.
I thought about all this when I read a recent article in the New York Times about older people givig up their car keys. People. become too old to drive when they can’t see or their reaction time is too slow. Or worse.
For scenery and lifestyle, you can’t beat the Southwestern US. But you have to drive. And you’ve got lots of crazy drivers. I got rear-ended in Santa Fe. My friend got hit by an uninsured motorist.
In 2005 I moved from New Mexico to Seattle, which boasts a decent public transit system. I could walk everywhere. I drove to Seattle from New Mexico (with a dog and 2 cats in the fully loaded car). I sold my car on eBay 4 days later.
I found most people in Seattle still had cars. They were puzzled when I didn’t want to drive.
In 2011 I made a bigger decision to move to Philadelphia. The insurance company told me I’d have to pay hundreds of dollars for “non-drivers insurance.” Or I could get an ID card and save the money. I flew to Philly (yep, 2 cats and a dog), chose the ID card, and never looked back.
People of all ages don’t drive here. They don’t question my non-driving status.
That’s because Philadelphia has a network of subways and buses. True, the buses are often delayed or detoured, but they’re there. There are regular cabs, Lyft and Uber. I live in Center City. I can walk to most places and I do.’
When I hear about people getting emotional over driving, I want to say, “Driving while old isn’t the problem.” Lots of young people are bad drivers. Lots of people of all ages have accidents.
The problem is related to our lack of public transportation. Even here in Philadelphia, some places are not accessible by public transit. Some subway stations feel awful.
“I’m a. tall male and I feel uncomfortable in Spring Garden Station,” said a man who looked to be in his thirties.
Some buses disappear from the app. The listing says they’ll arrive in ten minutes. Five minutes later there’s a notation, “Cancelled.” Or “Untracked.” Or just gone.
And that’s a big city.
In my book on aging, I have a section where I speculate that “”What’s good for older people is good for everyone.” One thing that would benefit all of us would be better public transportation. I think I’d still be living in New Mexico.
There’s no trauma here about giving up the car keys, especially if you live in Center City. There shouldn’t be trauma anywhere. In a perfect world you could get around with taxis and public transit, for a fraction of what you pay for a car.
Do you ever watch Judge Judy? There’s so much litigation over buying and selling cars and trucks. There’s even more about accidents.
Do you ever notice how much space we give to cars? Parking? Driveways?
We need to replace articles about people getting old and giving up driving. We need more articles on making transportation accessible to people of all ages, in more parts of the world.
In some places, people are lonely and isolated because they don’t have reliable transportation.
If I ran the world we’d get rid of most private cars. And we wouldn’t miss them.
