Elderly and dangerous driving

Reading the BBC article "Who, what, why: How dangerous are elderly drivers?" I had some reactions to it. I didn't like the perspective. The article was basically confirming that elderly drivers don't necessarily cause more accidents, but if accidents happen they are usually more critical or fatal in their consequences. The latter has to do with the fact that when an elderly person is involved in an accident they are more likely to be seriously injured due to the frailty of the bones. I would have preferred if the article had been written more from a more inclusive viewpoint. Rather than selecting elderly drivers to be the main focus, the article could have investigated who are the safest drivers. Or which age groups cause the majority of accidents. 
In many ways I feel that the focus on elderly in the news is frequently re-inforcing the views that growing older could be an issue. I would like to see more positive news about the elderly population. The fact that many are still driving (after health checks) shows how they keep active and participate in social life. It would be nice to remind everybody to drive with considerations for others particularly on weekends and bank holidays where people socialise with their families and friends. 
  

annual BSG conference - great program

I'm currently at the BSG conference and heard about fascinating research - in particular about the unconsidered use of the term "loneliness"(often mixed up with social isolation and being alone) (Christina Victor), the representation of older women (Sukey Parnell) and their choices of dress (Julia Twigg).

My own talk "Using constructive design research to develop online social technologies for older people" is later today. Here is a link to the conference and program.

"Alive" - a charity working with ipad and older people

I have been very busy in the recent months with the final part of my practical PhD. In July I ran a participatory design workshop to discuss the future of the Teletalker. One of the outcomes is that the form of technology, albeit important, is secondary to its role within society. But the functionality must be kept simple. The ipad, as a more approachable technology for non-computer literate people, came up in the workshop's discussions several times.

So this reminded me to blog about Alive - a charity, which uses ipads to involve and stimulate older people in care homes, next other activities they offer such as reminiscence workshops.
As it was pointed out in my workshop during discussions, not all older people are in care homes - more needs to be done to address older people who are at home. Maybe Alive could also give ipad sessions for an older person at their home?