We are concerned about parents getting lost while driving. They don't drive anywhere long distance. Any idea of a tracking device?

I use a GPS location tracker on my Dads car. I can track his driving in real time and look at his daily or weekly during history from my I pad. It shows me exactly where he is, how fast he drove and the duration of his stops. It does cost money. It was about $200 up front and there's about a $30 monthly fee. I feel it's worth every cent as I can see if he begins wandering, gets lost or gets out of his small orbit. The device is from Landairsea. It was very easy to install, there's no batteries to mess with and my Dad doesn't even know it's there. There is cheaper stuff out there but this system has been totally reliable for over a year. There's no way to do this without spending some money unless they carry a smart phone consistently that you can use a GPS app with.

The potential for getting lost may not be the most critical issue here. (I am directionaly impaired -- I get lost all the time. No big deal. )

Persons who reach a point where they don't know where they are or how they got there and lack coping skills regarding what to do about it may forget other critical things -- like which pedal is the brake, or how to respond in an emergency. Their response times may be too slow for safe driving.

Giving up driving is one of the most traumatic and distressing events in the lives of many elders. It was awful, terrible, and very bad for my husband. He mourned his little special edition Miata for a year. So I am very sorry to bring this up. But someone has to be concerned not only about the parents' whereabouts but also the safety of other people on the road with them.

If they are at a point that you are worrying about them getting lost, it may be time to take a broader look at the whole driving picture.

Sorry.

Send, I'm not sure I understand your responce.....What's a wonderful idea? NSA? GPS elder tracking?

I don't see it as an invasion of privacy if that's what you're implying. Parents track their kids every day via cell phones, with and without the kids knowledge. Kids however get smarter. People with dementia go the other way and need supervision. Cameras, GPS, radar, sonar....I'm for any device that will help me know when it's time to get the keys from my Dad.

I hope my wife has a GPS implanted in me when I get like my Dad. She'll probably go cheap though, and use a shock collar.........

I agree wholeheartedly with the bigger picture question!

I would ask this. If seem to never have the cell phone on when they take it with them, how can you be sure they will turn the GPS tracker on when they get in the car?

How close are they to having their next driver's licence test?

Have you talked with their doctor about this and questioned how well he thinks their brains are working?

My dad has been incredibly rational about the whole thing.

When we first started on this journey with dad, he explained to me, my wife and our boys exactly how his decline would likely progress. He wrote up a very short version of his 80 plus years on earth. He took us through the will as it applied to each of us, showed us where some things were that he had already organized for us, told us how content he was about his life as a whole, asked me if I ever learned from my mom why she abandoned him, retold the story of the day before she left and the day she left, and said his only other hurt was his mother's death (BTW, it was by suicide.). Beyond that he said that he had lived a very blessed life and please keep coming to visit and call on the phone. Sorry, but I didn't know the answer to his question.

He drove for a bit only across the street to the grocery store, but when my step-sister said she didn't think it was safe, he was ok with that.

I guess that was his farewell speech in advance which his side of the family tends to do, usually with each child in private, plus the spouse if alive at that time.

I've never heard of anyone taking such a mater of fact, rational, organized, and here's what you need to know approach as him. It must be the engineer in him who always had things planned out like our vacations down to the tiniest detail so that things might go as smoothly as possible. Wow!

I would have the doctor evaluate their thinking, inform the doctor privately of your concerns, anticipate them trying to show they are possibly healthier than they really are for the doctor and take his advice to heart in light of the bigger picture.

Bronco, I agree with others about the big picture. If your folks will cooperate maybe talk about giving up the driving, but keep in mind there will have to be away for them to get groceries, doc appts, etc.

In my case, Dad just passed his drivers test, doc says he's ok for now, and he won't discuss the issue at all. To him he's as capable as ever. The GPS is not the be all end all for the driving issue, but for now it is the best I can do.

Windyridge and others, This is a tough one. I attended the Senior Driver Safety class in our area offered by AARP and took mother when she was still driving about two years ago. It was very informative. The class was held on 2 Saturdays at our rec center and lasted all day. Mom couldn't retain any of of the information presented.
Looking around in the class, most of them looked like they shouldn't be driving including the teacher! It scared the daylights out of me. But, that's just my opinion and I am I very cautious driver. The little booklet they passed out stated that some seniors drive with Alzheimers and drive in limited areas to avoid getting lost. Since I attended that class, I am more cautious than ever when driving and especially as a pedestrian, watch out!

I'm having a good day today because everyone is safe and calm. Getting their car keys, and then selling that darn car, was a year of agony. I so feel for anyone worried about older parents who still drive.

I agree with Jeannegibbs above. When the memory and decline is such that you are concerned with them getting lost, it's time to stop the driving completely. When you hear of seniors who plowed through a store window or ran over a person because they mixed up the brake and the gas, consider the risks. You never know when the day will be that they really aren't with it and something terrible happens. It's not worth allowing it to continue because you don't want to upset your parents. And yes, I know it's a bear to do get it done, but there are ways to try.

I'm not saying tracking is bad, but I would focus my energy on stopping the driving, since innocent people, including them could be hurt.

Garden, here's stats I found from the CDC about older adult drivers: "In 2012, more than 5,560 older adults were killed and more than 214,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes. This amounts to 15 older adults killed and 586 injured in crashes on average every day. There were almost 36 million licensed older drivers in 2012, which is a 34 percent increase from 1999. Per mile traveled, fatal crash rates increase noticeably starting at ages 70‒74 and are highest among drivers age 85 and older. This is largely due to increased susceptibility to injury and medical complications among older drivers rather than an increased tendency to get into crashes. Age-related declines in vision and cognitive functioning (ability to reason and remember), as well as physical changes, may affect some older adults' driving abilities. Across all age groups, males had substantially higher death rates than females." And according to Consumer Reports: "Drivers 80 and older are involved in 5.5 times as many fatal crashes per mile driven as middle-aged drivers." Back in February of 2014 Witsend2 asked "Parents have had increasing dementia for past 15 years (mom) and past year (dad). They both drive. Are we liable?" Although some posters responded 'yes' even when the answer is 'no' people sue first and ask questions later. And the whole process costs lots of money and time. The way we handled driving with my inlaws was explaining the legal system to them - the long, drawn out, expensive, time consuming legal process - so they understood what would happen if they hit a person while driving: all their medical records would be laid bare to the court, their car insurance premiums would skyrocket, etc.

I had onstar family link on my mom's car. On of the best decisions we made. I had text alerts set on my phone at set times. One of the alerts received saved us. We were able to call onstar who worked with law enforcement to locate her and keep her safe until we arrived. At anytime i could locate the car on the onstar website. Her car is for sale....