Must happen more often than not
 

Just came home from the Neighborhood Walmart and Colony today. I was on 466a, going west from near the Shell Station when I saw a gentleman turning, with his golf cart, out of the McDonald's parking lot also going west. I thought perhaps he'd cross traffic and turn left to go towards Pine Hills but no. He continued on. I'm posting this because I think there are folks with early dementia who are still operating golf carts and this is dangerous. IF you're a spouse you NEED to re-evaluate the situation. I lost sight of the man eventually due to moving ahead myself--but know for sure he was heading on past Bob Evans and not sure if he turned in there or continued on.

It would help me to know what, exactly a spouse or friend should do if someone is showing signs of dementia, or starts losing inhibitions. Do we phone that person’s doctor? Do we call law enforcement? How does one force someone to take tests to determine whether they are a risk to themselves or others? Is it Court-ordered? I have a friend who absolutely erupts in anger over what would be considered trivial matters. The wife just seems to put up with it, doesn’t know how else to handle it, and tries to talk him down. He is very vicious in what he calls her.

Does anyone know what the steps are? I think we have people on TOTV who may be experienced in this, either in their professional past or personally handling this type situation, and would appreciate some advice.

Take all vehicle keys away, almost on a daily basis--I observe people who are driving 10 mph under the speed limit and can't keep their car with the striped lanes in a traffic circle--Fl is very remiss for not testing all senior drivers and I'm one--I'm 75

In the age of computer games . a driving simulator is readily available--

The one thing I did notice is it didn't have a FL license plate on it AND it was on 466a and NOT crossing it. Street legals can do that. Inferring someone has dementia because they drive a street legal cart is being snarky and not appropriate on this thread.

I don't know how to answer this question...but I do know that recently there was a discussion on local social media re: this possibility. I think you could contact someone whose acquaintanted with elder-care. If you don't have a local phone book, try google and do a search. I know that there are probably many folks on this site who might be able to better answer your questions than I can. It is something that needs to be known though as this is an aging population. I'm so sorry for your friend and hope she finds necessary solutions soon!!!

Could be a whole host of reasons. Typically I go for the senior brain fart...

Could be but he passed at least one opportunity to move off the roadway back to where he needed to be. Brain-farts happen but in this case...it was just plain dangerous as well as weird!!

I have seen plenty of reports wherein these types of incidents were attributed to alcohol consumption, but not one account of the driver having dementia.

You can’t drive a street legal cart on 466A

Went to a meeting of the Villages Shooting club when they had a sheriff from sumter county.

I remeber him mentioimg that 9.7% of the Villages has some form of dementia.

The reason I drive as if someone is trying to hit me.


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A younger person (40ish) almost hit me yesterday. He was coming east through the Havana tunnel and didn't see or ignored the stop sign. It appears he was following his father in another cart who had pulled over to wait. I yelled and then pulled into the left lane or would have been hit. My mother and dog were in the passenger seat. Needless to say we were all shaken. I'm so grateful no one was coming toward me.

That must mean the younger folks are moving in and lowering the average. Thirteen percent of Americans over 65 have dementia and 45% of those over 85 are affected.

Must happen more often than not
 

Let’s look at this incident in the most simplistic way without trying to medically diagnose it. Maybe he simply did it on purpose to get somewhere and didn’t care if he broke the law. He may be stupid but not necessarily an Alzheimer’s statistic. People intentionally break laws all the time for their convenience. Fortunately he didn’t get hurt or get a ticket (this time). Maybe his wife had his real car and he had to get to the Georgia peach stand on the side of the road ? I never could understand how or why it was ok for foot powered bicycles to drive on there but not a gas or electric powered golf cart anyway.

After our father had a few minor accidents, we knew the time had come to take away his keys. My sister came to take care of him and our mother, and one thing she did for him was to drive him anytime and anywhere he wanted. This lasted six months before he died. Then our mother vuluntarily went to an assisted living place because she wanted my sister to feel free to go back home.