AARP Eye Center
The Takeaway: Grandparents Are Safer Drivers; Suicide, Women Over 50
By Tina Johnson-Marcel, July 28, 2011 09:48 AM
Want to keep your kids safe in the car? Make sure Nana's behind the wheel. When children are present, grandparents are better drivers than Mom and Dad, a new study says. People older than 65 are generally involved in more car accidents, and the number climbs as people get older. The debate over the right of seniors to remain behind the wheel was revived last month after a 90-year-old woman drove through a nursing home's recreation room. But a new study published in Pediatrics suggests that seniors are more careful when transporting precious cargo: The study found that children were 50 percent less likely to be injured in a car accident when a grandparent was driving. Do your mom and dad still drive? Here are some signs that can help you determine whether you need to have "the talk." 
... Debt ceiling update. The House plans a party-line vote at some point today on House Speaker John Boehner's debt-reduction bill. The measure includes $1.8 trillion in spending cuts spread over 10 years, including entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. What a default could mean for you. ... Suicide spikes among women over 50:
A new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shows a 49 percent increase in emergency department visits for drug-related suicide attempts for women age 50 and older. And women ages 40-69 are more at risk of killing themselves than other women, according to new research on age-specific suicide rates between 1998 and 2007. In 2007, this age group made up 60 percent of the 7,328 suicides reported among women.
How to assess when a loved one needs help.
... Health notes: Are you at risk for having a stroke? Genetics may play more of a role in heart attacks than in strokes, a new British study suggests. ... Fragmented sleep may impair memory, learning ... Health care costs: The U.S. government will foot the bill for half of all health care costs in the United States by 2020, according to a government report released Thursday.
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(Photo: Philip Lee Harvey/Cultura/Aurora)