Q: I taught my daughter to drive by going to a nearby cemetery. There are almost no other active cars there, and it is a good place to practice stops and starts, parking, backing up, tight turns, etc. Besides, it is highly unlikely you’re going to injure anyone, and no one complains about the noise.
Norman Smith, Daly City
A: It certainly would have been a quiet place to learn to drive.
Q: My husband, who is 90, has vision and balance problems. He recently renewed his driver’s license. He passed the written test, but when he was taking the visual part, he was struggling a bit, and the employee simply said it was OK and moved him along. When it came to the driving test, he also was excused from taking it.
I was counting on the DMV to screen older people more closely, not less so. I would like to write a letter to the DMV, or whomever you might suggest should hear from me, and I wonder if you can give me some guidance about this.
Joan Sullivan
A: Contact the DMV via the department’s website or by calling 1-800-777-0133 to let them know your thoughts. Mrs. Roadshow’s dad, who did not have the physical challenges you describe that your husband has, had promised his family he would stop driving at a certain age, but didn’t stop then. Jan was in Iowa for her dad’s 95th birthday and he proudly slapped his driver’s license on the table at lunch, saying gleefully that he had renewed it that morning. He mostly wanted to do it to prove that he still could, she thinks. He stopped driving soon after, following a small accident that he did not cause. It frightened him enough that he looked seriously at transportation options his daughters and others had urged him to use.
Q: In your response last week to Mike H. from Oakland, you commended him for driving safely and following the rules for driving in the appropriate lanes.
I live in a rural area with curvy two-lane roads and many drivers want to go faster than the speed limit. I’ve often had success following another resident’s suggestion: Put on your hazard lights. That seems to send the message that you can’t go any faster, while also acknowledging that you’re aware that the driver behind you is in a hurry. Once that driver is no longer behind you, turn off your hazard lights.
It generally works and is less likely to start a road rage incident than resorting to other, less “friendly” options.
Sheryl Carver, Bonny Doon
A: That would be a challenging situation. It’s not legal, though, to use hazard lights while driving.
Look for Gary Richards at facebook.com/mr.roadshow or contact him at mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com.