Alzheimer's Disease Support Group

I'm not sure I'm the right one to answer. But we're dealing with this with my MIL right now. To make a long story short, we ended up 'disabling' the car. Now it doesn't run, so she can't drive it. We tried taking it away and that lasted a week (of pure hell). So far, 'disabling' it has worked for us. She hasn't tried to have it repaired yet.
That's all I have right now.
Vicky

Taking the truck keys was one of the easier things we have done for my hubby so far.
When it came time to renew his licenses we told him that they weren't renewing them anymore and he had to stop driving. I hid the keys and a few times he tried to start the truck, but finally gave up.
Wish everything else I've needed to do for him was that easy but most things are done with a fight from him
Hang in there. She will soon forget that she was once a driver.

This is one of the biggest of the big deals with dementia/alz people.
My husband handled it way better than we thought he would...
THEN I found out he was driving anyway (without a license or
insurance !). That was a real mess. I was still working at the time.
So I took drastic measures - sold the 2nd car - locked away the
extra keys to my car. I had our lawyer and Doctor give him a talking to - It took about 3 months for him to get over it and quit talking about it.
But - you have to do what is best for the rest of the world. He was a danger on the roads as he could no longer read signs... and was not paying attention to traffic.
Good luck !

In California once a doctor has made a diagnosis of dementia the state takes away their lisence, wish they all did. It would be so much easier on families if that were the case. If you live where they don't then the above suggestions might work. I just told my husband that he was no longer safe to drive and I would not let him. Fortunatly that works wiht him.
Some states also have a driving test that those with dementia or other problems can take and if they can pass that test then they can keep driving. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but tend to think it is not such a hot idea since conditons can change so quickly and someone with the ability to drive one week may not be able to the next week or the week after and then your back to the whole mess of getting them out of the car.
If I had this problem I'd go wiht the disabling, something simple and not noticeable then let them think I didn't have the money to fix it, fortunately my husband has never had any mechanic skills so he wouldn't even think of trying to work on it himself.

thank you so much everyone for your great advise. I really appreciate it. Just today I called his doctor and asked him to address the issue with him as he has a doctor's appointment tomorrow with him. The nurse said he will either have his license revoked or ask him to go for a special driving test. He will know that I am the one that called about this and he will be very angry at me. I just want to keep him and everyone else to be safe. I dread tomorrow but I know this is necessary and my other sisters do not want to address this issue so I felt that someone had to. I feel so guilty.

This is something I had to deal with this spring after my husband had his fourth accident in two years. Most of them involved backing our car into a metal post. No other car involved. No injuries. Just expensive. Number four involved turning a corner and knocking the sideview mirror off a parked car. At that time I had to take away the keys. It was tragic for him and heartbreaking for me. It helped him to find out if a diagnosed drver with Alz. has an accident the insurance is not in effect. He risked our losing our house and all we owned by continuing to drive. Of course the main worry had been that he would have injured or killed someone by continuing to drive. This is rough. A man feels less a man when he cannot drive - at least most men I know feel that way. I as a woman would think it meant giving up my indindependence. This is the roughest thing his Alz. has made me deal with.
a

Sandy is right about the driving being one of the biggies. Of course,
I say that all the time. Sometimes I think this is as bad as it gets...
then the next thing happens.
The liability of a diagnosed Alz patient continuing to drive is huge!
My husband just could not understand the consequences and continued to drive - without my knowledge. When I caught him and sold the 2nd car and locked up the extra keys to my car - he was very upset for weeks... and could not understand why I was so mean to him.

Thank you for all your advise. I have done my best to help my parents through this. My mom does not or will not understand why we are concerned about him driving and especially driving alone. I keep praying that she will understand someday that he is just not capable of making realistic decisions for himself.