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My great grandma, who passed away in 2001 at the age of 83, insisted that she keep a valid driver's license. It was just on principle because, in my lifetime, I can't remember her ever having a car. The only time she left the house was if she was going somewhere with a relative for friend.
She was relatively able-bodied until she was 80 or so. (by this I mean she didn't need a wheelchair or walker, and could walk around the house on her own) But, I think if she lived in a walkable neighborhood, and ventured out on her own to run some of her own errands, the additional exercise and movement would have helped her maintain greater mobility.
Well, no one has a crystal ball to know "what might have been". Obviously, I don't know your grandmother nor the particular situation, but a lot of younger people think that if older ones just got out and walked a little more, etc that they'd be much better off. It's not always so. Falls are a big problem with the elderly, and there is a huge death rate within one year of breaking a hip.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jade408
My grandmother drove too long. She did not want to give up her license and freedom. During the last year she kept having "incidents" where she would get stuck in a ditch. This was pre-cell phone.
I do think there comes a time. It's different for everyone.
Well, no one has a crystal ball to know "what might have been". Obviously, I don't know your grandmother nor the particular situation, but a lot of younger people think that if older ones just got out and walked a little more, etc that they'd be much better off. It's not always so. Falls are a big problem with the elderly, and there is a huge death rate within one year of breaking a hip.
I do think there comes a time. It's different for everyone.
I just want people to have a choice of options and not feel forced to drive of they don't like it or it doesn't feel safe since there are no alternatives.
Well, no one has a crystal ball to know "what might have been". Obviously, I don't know your grandmother nor the particular situation, but a lot of younger people think that if older ones just got out and walked a little more, etc that they'd be much better off. It's not always so. Falls are a big problem with the elderly, and there is a huge death rate within one year of breaking a hip.
Oh, I agree that it's impossible to know what might have been. And, I'm not suggesting that Grandma should have made a huge life change at 70 to suddenly start walking everywhere, and that everything would be rosey. But I am suggesting that if she made a gradual change from driving to walking when she was more able-bodied, (instead of transitioning from driving to almost complete inactivity) the additional exercise of walking places would have allowed her to stay in shape and allowed her to remain mobile longer. (barring any severe accidents)
Did just transit service change? Or business and residence locations change? Even if Chicago had the same level of transit service as 1950 [I doubt it's declined drastically], the jobs and shops have moved. Far more of the Chicago area's population lives in outer suburbs where transit is less practical.
People on this forum and elsewhere confuse poor transit with a transit-unfriendly layout.
As someone who has lived in the Chicago area for the vast majority of his life, I can say(and this includes from researching what areas once had train service) that the bus transit in suburban areas isn't as bad as you might think it'd be, as long as you're trying to commute in the more traveled corridors and major arterial roads in the suburbs, or within the more populated satellite suburban cities(i.e. Elgin, Waukegan, etc.). However, the sad thing is that it's still a good idea to know someone who can give you a ride to those areas if you don't own a car(me included), since the vast majority of suburban bus routes(with some infrequent exceptions) don't run at all(that's at least the case for the majority of buses in Elgin, Waukegan, etc.), or run far less frequently if it runs on Sundays/holidays at all. Plus of course for a lot of outer(and very suburban) areas, getting to them can still be very tricky to do without a car. Finally, there are a noticeable number of suburban bus routes that do NOT run on both Saturday or Sundays/holidays whatsoever, ugh. It could be worse I'll admit, though(when I've noticed the lesser amount of bus service there is in certain different metro areas within the Midwest).
Also, it really ticks me off to an extremely great degree that when it comes to bus transit within Chicago, the CTA doesn't have better bus service on the major diagonal streets. It's like they have an unnecessary hatred of wanting to run bus service on those streets, when they clearly should be at least running some bus service on them. This was illustrated very well, when the Elston/Clybourn was eliminated somewhere around 1998, the brief 2000s experiment with the Armitage bus running on a part of Clybourn(I preferred that bus, when the route used to service those few blocks of Clybourn) ended, and the very big controversy with the majority of Lincoln bus service eliminated in December 2012. Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the major anger bus riders had in Hammond, IN, when all Easygo bus service ended due to a dispute over future funding to help pay for bus service(never mind that during that period, bus service actually was expanded slightly vs. the amount of bus service there was provided under Hammond Bus System, or whatever its former name was).
I didn't even begin to get into the fact that a lot of suburbs and outer towns that once saw commuter train service between there and Chicago no longer have it, vs. decades ago. Some great examples include the elimination of the North Shore Line interurban between Chicago and Milwaukee(plus begun its route heading out from Chicago(or last part of it entering Chicago) on CTA's 'L tracks, btw), the fact that the McHenry branch on the Union Pacific Northwest Metra line once had service all the way up to Lake Geneva(and that at some point in the 70s or 80s, the tracks were completely ripped up slightly north of McHenry), the fact that the modern day CTA Forest Park(Congress) branch of the Blue Line once went to Westchester and only goes to Forest Park today, the Pink Line(former Douglas Blue Line branch) once went to Oak Park Ave. in Berwyn and for whatever reason was shortened to just going to 54th Ave. in Cicero during the 50s), etc. I can make this post longer and list more examples, but I think that's already more than enough. And thinking about these various annoyances almost makes me at times want to purchase a car of my own(only not doing it due to lack of funds, and since I feel finally purchasing a bike, a goal I've pathetically put off for way too long, would be a better idea to do), rather than just share my parents car(as I do have a drivers license) when needed.
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