ESCO To Present ‘CarFit’ Event For Senior Drivers

November 6, 2012

The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Community Oriented Policing Unit will present Operation CarFit this weekend.

The event will be held Saturday in the back parking lot of Hillcrest Baptist Church on Nine Mile Road and Guidy Lane from 8:00 am until noon.

A unique program geared for senior citizens, CarFit was developed in collaboration with the American Society on Aging, AAA, AARP and the American Occupational Therapy Association. CarFit is the first program to offer older adults the opportunity to check how their personal cars “fit” them.

Trained professionals will lead drivers through a 12-point checklist with their vehicle, recommend car adjustments and adaptations and offer community specific resources and activities that could make their cars “fit” better or enhance their safety. An occupational therapist also will be on hand to provide information to older drivers on how to maintain and strengthen driving health.

The sessions take approximately 20 minutes per driver and vehicle. Advanced scheduling is encouraged. To schedule a CarFit session contact Rhonda Ray at the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9553.

Organizers said people over 65 are the fastest-growing population in the United States. By 2030, one in five drivers will be age 65 or older, which means there will be more than 30 million older drivers on our roads. Because of their fragility, seniors have the highest crash death rate of everyone except teenagers.

Comments

2 Responses to “ESCO To Present ‘CarFit’ Event For Senior Drivers”

  1. dick tracy on November 6th, 2012 7:32 pm

    5 star needs to be spending more time on investigating crime, which is more important than picking up trash or teaching safer driving techniques. At the rate it’s going, I’m more concerned over an older person being robbed or burglarized , more than getting into an accident. This county is headed downhill as bad as Washington. When it takes 3 hours for a deputy to respond to a call, there’s a big problem, & I blame the head cheese. 4 deputies total, on duty, the sorry boss needs to be in one of those new cruisers answering calls himself, Oh, I’m sorry, he doesn’t know how…….

  2. Jane on November 6th, 2012 5:26 am

    They have the highest crash death rates but they also get in fewer accidents than young people!