The trip runs about 25 minutes from home, in a rural area. "There's no buses out here," Sandbothe said. "It's so expensive for Uber to take somewhere all the time." Sandbothe has even thought about riding a lawn tractor to appointments, but it has no street license.
Sandbothe is the primary caregiver for a spouse and manages serious health conditions, including Type 2 diabetes. Safety drove the decision to quit. "I never know when I'm falling and stuff," Sandbothe said. "I don't want to get out there and black out and hurt somebody or kill somebody."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that older drivers are more likely than younger drivers to be in a car accident. They are also "more likely to be seriously hurt," according to the agency. Most older drivers have no plan for the day they can no longer drive, and aging experts say that gap matters.
There is no set age to stop. For families, that means a hard question with no clear deadline.
A February 2025 University of Michigan poll found 81% of drivers 65 and older feel very confident in their driving now, but only 43% feel that way about driving safely five years from now.