Handing Over the Keys: Driving Retirement Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe giving up driving, from both sides of the car. Drivers came to it through a small stroke and an eye test, macular injections, Parkinson's, early Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, a seizure, a diabetic low at the wheel, painkillers that left one woman nodding off at a stop street, years of tiredness that ended in a sleep study, and a slowed reaction after a joint replacement when a child ran into the road. Others are the sons, daughters, a son-in-law and a sister-in-law who raised the subject, and the spouses left without a driver. Contributors include a machinist, a rally driver, a Buenos Aires taxi driver, a church deacon with a van route, a rancher forty miles from town, and a pastor who learned the matatu, writing from Dayton to Dublin, Osaka to Accra. Some stopped by choice; some had a licence taken and fought it; one daughter took her mother's keys and was not spoken to for three weeks. Many describe what replaced the car: buses, a bicycle in Utrecht, a hired driver in Mumbai, a grandson at the wheel, ride apps learned late, a written pact on the refrigerator. Several describe anger, embarrassment and loneliness, and one writer with a licence on hold is still undecided. Almost none say they would go back.

Who it's for

For older drivers wondering whether it is time, and for the sons, daughters and partners who need to raise it, plan the lifts or take over the driving.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 233 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.