(Posted 181 days ago)

Say This:

I am a RN Geriatric Care Manager and help families with this issue daily. The approach is different depending on your relationship with your dad and the state of his cognition. when there is a cognitive problem, the ability to think rationally fades so telling them of the dangers of driving is beyond comprehension. If a child feels the keys should be taken away, this probably should have happened years ago.

Driving does not only involve the skill of driving but the ability to respond quickly to rapidly changing situations.

The best scenario is to take your dad to be tested privately by a occupational therapist; most larger hospitals or rehabilitation centers have a driving testing center in place used not only for the elderly, but those with brain injuries to see if it is safe for them to resume driving. Using this approach can place the "blame" on a professional for taking his license away. You would need a prescription from their PCP for this testing.

Some children can have a conversation with their parents that are not cognitively impaired, asking them to give up their keys to alleviate their personal concern. This works in some cases, especially if the parent does not want to be considered a burden to their kids. Please help this older adult set up a driving network through the local area on aging or set a specific schedule to have all the adult children take them places.