SALT LAKE CITY - The snow has already flown in some parts of Utah, which is a reminder to brush up on safe-driving skills. AARP Utah offers a four-hour driver safety course. It is intended for people over age 50, although anyone who sits behind the wheel can sign up.

Paulette Welch, AARP Utah state driver safety coordinator, says most older adults have not received any driving instruction since they were teenagers. A lot has changed since then, she points out, from the traffic laws to roads and vehicles. She offers just one example, based on the old rule that likens the steering wheel to a clock face.

"We were all taught when we learned to drive that you should hold the steering wheel at '10' and '2.' That's no longer true, with airbags. It's very important to hold your steering wheel at '8' and '4,' because that's where most of the controls are on the new cars."

Welch says AARP offers the driver safety course online, but the advantage of taking it in person is that the instructor also shows students how to correctly adjust the seats, mirrors and more in their own vehicle, for safety, using AARP's "Car Fit" rules.

Janet Chatwin, Oakley, took the course in July. She was surprised at how much new information there is to learn. She now feels "a little bit safer and smarter on the road."

"I would have never done it, but my husband had done it, and he encouraged me to do it. So, I did it to get 15 percent off of my insurance! I ended up, 'Wow! This was wonderful.'"

As Chatwin says, people over age 55 get a 15-percent discount on their car insurance in Utah for taking the driver safety course. The cost of the course ranges from $12 to $20, depending on whether you are an AARP member and whether it is taken online or in person. In November, the course will be free for veterans.

The course also covers personal factors that affect driving ability, such as medications and alcohol; distractions like eating and cell-phone use; and the effects of aging. Welch says it is all about preventing what is known as "inattention blindness."

"How many times have we heard, in reports of crashes, 'That car came out of nowhere!' We all know that's not true. That's what inattention blindness does to us. If we don't pay attention, and we're not looking for things, we just absolutely don't see them."

Information on course locations is available by calling 800-350-7025 or online at aarpdriversafety.org.


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New research released by AARP Iowa shows how important Social Security benefits are to people who receive them - and the numbers reveal women are far more likely to list those benefits as critical.

About 700,000 Iowans receive Social Security benefits, and 55% are women.

AARP Iowa State Director Brad Anderson said he dug into the data, to find out why women see this as an important issue in their lives - in far greater numbers than men.

He said it's because women tend to have far smaller Social Security checks - due to factors like receiving lower wages than men, and taking on unpaid family care-giving responsibilities during their lives.

"In addition to that, women have fewer resources of retirement income than men," said Anderson. "And so, what that means is, men can rely more on stocks and bonds and pensions - whereas women really rely more heavily on Social Security."

Anderson and other advocates are calling on Congress to address the dwindling Social Security Trust Fund, which could be forced to cut benefits by 2035 unless Congress acts to address the funding shortfall.

In addition to earning less and qualifying for fewer benefits, women also typically live longer than men - which, Anderson says, means they have to stretch their Social Security income even further.

"When you put it all together," said Anderson, "it makes a lot of sense that women find Social Security and the strength of Social Security an extremely important issue, when it comes to the polls that we've seen."

AARP Iowa released its findings on the heels of a national report on the financial health of Medicare and Social Security.

Twenty percent of older adults in central Ohio either were not prepared or did not know if they were prepared for extreme weather, according to a recent study by Ohio State University researchers.

The analysis relied on data from the 2021 Central Ohio Regional Assessment on Aging Survey, which included more than 1,400 adults over age 65 in eight central Ohio counties.

OSU Assistant Professor in the College of Social Work Smitha Rao said the research is meant to be a conversation starter about how older adults are faring, and a launching point for area agencies on aging to help determine who is most vulnerable.

"To get a sense of where the emphasis of service delivery needs to be and who's missed out," said Rao, "because on the face of it you can say that almost 80% of the older adults are prepared, but it is those 20% who are unsure or who are not prepared that we should be focused on."

In counties where greater proportions of older adults had a lower income, lived in subsidized housing, and reported having a disability, higher percentages of respondents also reported not being prepared.

Nearly one fifth of older residents in Fayette County reported missing health appointments or not being able to get medicine, reach their job or place of volunteering, or get to family and friends because of severe weather conditions.

Rao added that the data also show that in some counties, older adults face daily barriers meeting basic needs - not just during extreme weather.

"Those were interesting results that showed up for us, in terms of how many people said that there were everyday disruptions," said Rao, "especially when we looked at the different counties and the differences within that."

Climate projections suggest that Ohioan can expect more heavy rainfall, extreme heat and air pollution days in the coming decades.

Rao said she and her colleagues have started a new project to talk directly to older adults and learn from their experiences, hoping to develop tools that can help them better prepare for emergencies.

A new national survey says one in five Americans 50 and older has nothing in savings for retirement.

Wisconsin workers young and old are being urged to take action now, to avoid added financial stress in their later years.

The survey results were issued by AARP this month.

Just affording basic expenses right now is a concern for many. But AARP Wisconsin's Communications Director Jim Flaherty said you don't want to be caught off guard when retirement nears.

He acknowledged that it can be hard for younger adults to plan that far ahead, when they're juggling expenses like student loan debt - or for older individuals managing costly medications, and higher grocery bills.

"A lot of times, because they're just trying to get by and they do have to live paycheck-to-paycheck," said Flaherty. "But this is one way to say, 'Hey, if you can live with a little less from your paycheck every week, that will sure grow.'"

Researchers note that 57 million Americans don't have access to a retirement plan through their work.

Wisconsin has not yet joined the list of states that have created state-operated retirement accounts, where employers and their workers can contribute money each pay period.

Supporters hope the issue is revisited next legislative session.

Flaherty said a combination of individuals being proactive and policymakers easing household budget pressure can hopefully put more people on a path toward a healthy retirement.

He said making progress can deter them from looking elsewhere to spend their golden years.

"Let's have an infrastructure that makes drugs affordable, that makes healthcare affordable, that makes retirement savings something that's part of their plan," said Flaherty. "And that'll keep Wisconsinites here."

And groups like AARP have encouraged Congress to address long-term stability concerns for Social Security, so that younger workers can anticipate full benefits.

Some Republican lawmakers have floated cuts, but senior advocates contend any solutions to make the program stronger should not be tied to deficit talks.