What to do about Driving

So after another 'fender bender' in which my mom says that the lady that hit her had people with her that lied to the police, I realized that maybe it was time for her to stop driving. I was concerned for her safety, and for everyone else's on the road. I know a lot of people struggle with this. I guess my rule of thumb is, if you would let your own children ride with (person in question) then they are ok to drive. . if you wouldn't it's time to do something about it.

This was not an easy decision for me. But it became crystal clear a few weeks later when I found out another family member had my mother driving him somewhere and she hit something that fell off a truck, and then kept driving the car for about 30 miles until she lost control of it, and hit a guardrail on both sides, breaking the arm of the family member in the car with her.

Now. . there are two sides to this story, but to just get through it, I'll say the problem was not that she didn't understand something fell off a truck and hit her car, the problem was that in her judgment, she didn't STOP the car, she kept driving the damaged car, which forced her to have a second accident and ultimately hurt the other family member, endanger both lives, and total the car.

Now you may ask, why was that other family member letting your mother drive. . but I'd have to tell you that's a whole other blog:)

So, without a car, the driving was not so much an issue anymore. It completely stopped when she went in for her doctors appointment a week later and the doctor would not let her leave and drive home alone when he found out she had gotten herself a rental car.(Yes my mom is crafty that way.) That started what then became a court order for her to take a driving test, which she failed 2/3's of the test, and the sheriff had to come to the house to physically take the license from my mother as she would not hand it over.

What is hard, is that my mom doesn't understand why she can't drive. She's been fiercely independent for her entire life, driving on trips across the country, driving 8 hours back and forth from her sisters house on a whim. She's always driven, and has always been a safe driver. She doesn't understand why 'the sheriff took away her license.'

She cried for weeks, and is still upset and tried to appeal the decision. I'll get to that later.

The bottom line, the car was totaled, the insurance money was diverted, and the sheriff took her license. That's how my mom stopped driving.