On most days you'll probably find Rose Marie Thiel behind the wheel.
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"It makes life a lot easier for me,” Thiel said.
She said it gives her freedom that most people take for granted.
"You don't have to call a bus, or go to the bus or find a friend,” Thiel said.
At 85, Thiel ends up driving most of her friends around.
"I'm the only one who still drives at night,” Thiel said.
While Thiel admits she has to concentrate harder while driving than in previous decades. She's confident on the road and will even cross state lines.
"I drive to Rochester if I wanted a pair of shoes,” Thiel said.
Doctors said people like Thiel aren't rare but stress that it's important for family members to keep a closer eye on drivers who are are 65-years-old or older.
"Chronologic age and physiological age differ so much so you could have a 90-year-old who is just fine driving and a 70 year old who isn't,” Mary Bassing, a geriatrician with Gundersen Health System, said.
Doctors said rather than age it's really health condition that dictates whether or not an older person can drive.
"Vision, cognition and then motor and sensory function and then on top of that it's a person’s medical problems and then what medications they are taking,” Bassing said.
If senior drivers notice that their driving is going downhill, there are things they can do to try to sharpen those skills.
"Occupational therapy departments often do a drivers screening, and there are also driving rehabilitation specialists. Some of the driving schools will work with older drivers as well,” Bassing said.
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"It makes life a lot easier for me,” Thiel said.
She said it gives her freedom that most people take for granted.
"You don't have to call a bus, or go to the bus or find a friend,” Thiel said.
At 85, Thiel ends up driving most of her friends around.
"I'm the only one who still drives at night,” Thiel said.
While Thiel admits she has to concentrate harder while driving than in previous decades. She's confident on the road and will even cross state lines.
"I drive to Rochester if I wanted a pair of shoes,” Thiel said.
Doctors said people like Thiel aren't rare but stress that it's important for family members to keep a closer eye on drivers who are are 65-years-old or older.
"Chronologic age and physiological age differ so much so you could have a 90-year-old who is just fine driving and a 70 year old who isn't,” Mary Bassing, a geriatrician with Gundersen Health System, said.
Doctors said rather than age it's really health condition that dictates whether or not an older person can drive.
"Vision, cognition and then motor and sensory function and then on top of that it's a person’s medical problems and then what medications they are taking,” Bassing said.
If senior drivers notice that their driving is going downhill, there are things they can do to try to sharpen those skills.
"Occupational therapy departments often do a drivers screening, and there are also driving rehabilitation specialists. Some of the driving schools will work with older drivers as well,” Bassing said.
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