WILKES-BARRE — With nearly a quarter of Pennsylvania’s licensed drivers 65 years of age or older, the Pennsylvania departments of Transportation (PennDOT), Aging (PDA) and the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP), along with the AARP, hosted an event this week to highlight the unique challenges faced by older drivers during “Older Driver Safety Awareness Week,” which was observed Dec. 5-9.
“Mobility is essential to quality of life at any age,” said Kurt Myers, PennDOT Deputy Secretary for Driver and Vehicle Services. “Many older drivers have a lifetime of valuable driving experience to draw from, and PennDOT continually seeks to balance the safety of our roadways with the need for independence and autonomy.”
Approximately 25% of Pennsylvania’s 9.1 million licensed drivers are 65 and older. In 2021 there were more than 19,700 crashes involving at least one driver aged 65 or older, which resulted in over 300 total fatalities. This represents about 17% of all crashes and about 25% of all fatalities.
“As Pennsylvania’s aging population continues to grow, the Wolf Administration is committed to ensuring that older adults have the resources they need to remain active in and connected to their communities,” said Secretary of Aging Robert Torres. “Driver safety awareness is a big part of that picture and if older adults need to make adjustments, accessible and available transportation alternatives become key to getting around. Pennsylvania is fortunate that our lottery proceeds help to fund these alternative services.”
Representatives from PennDOT, PDA, PSP, AARP and others provided information to help older Pennsylvanians extend their years on the road, and to make them aware of other transportation options available to them.
Pennsylvania has a network of shared-ride service providers dedicated to keeping older adults mobile, safe, and engaged in their community. This free transportation program allows citizens ages 65 or older to ride for free on a local, fixed-route service whenever local public transportation is operating. During FY 2020-21, there were 1.7 million Senior Shared Rides.
While every person ages differently, aging typically brings certain — sometimes subtle — physical, visual, and cognitive changes that could impair an older person’s ability to drive safely.
Signs that can indicate it may be time to limit or stop driving altogether include:
• Feeling uncomfortable, fearful, or nervous when driving.
• Unexplained dents/scrapes on the car, fences, mailboxes, or garage doors.
• Frequently getting lost and frequent “close calls” (i.e. almost crashing).
• Slower response times, particularly to unexpected situations.
• Difficulty paying attention to signs or staying in the lane of traffic.
• Trouble judging gaps at intersections or highway entrance/exit ramps.
The following safe-driving habits, which should be routine at any age, are especially useful to older drivers:
• Plan ahead: lengthy car trips should be made during daylight hours. Morning may be best because most people aren’t as tired as they are in the afternoon.
• Don’t drive in rush-hour traffic if you can avoid it. Plan trips after 9 a.m. or before 5 p.m. Know what roads near home are most congested and avoid them.
• When driving long distances, especially in winter, call ahead for weather and road condition updates.
• Look ahead. Good drivers get a jump on trouble by looking far down the road and making adjustments before encountering problems that may involve other vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists or animals.
• Maintain a safe speed. This depends on what the road is like, how well the driver can see, how much traffic there is and how fast traffic is moving.
• Keep a safe distance from the vehicle ahead of you. The PA Driver’s Manual advises that you should always keep a 4-second gap between you and the vehicle in front of you.
Rep. Meuser supports
SNOOP Act of 2022
U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Dallas, recently cosponsored legislation that would protect the financial information of Americans from IRS snooping.
The “Stop the Nosy Obsession with Online Payments Act of 2022,” (SNOOP) Act, would strike a provision from the Biden Administration’s American Rescue Plan, that requires Americans utilizing third-party payment platforms like PayPal, Venmo, and Zelle to provide their personal information to the Internal Revenue Service if gross transactions exceed $600.
Meuser said thousands of Americans will need to fill out 1099-K form from the IRS.
The SNOOP Act will repeal this requirement, reverting this threshold to $20,000, its pre-2021 status.
Before Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan, third-party payment platforms were required to report information only when a payee conducts more than 200 commercial transactions per year that exceed $20,000. The bill was introduced by Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) in the House and by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) in the Senate.
Meuser believes this requirement not only burdens average Americans unfairly, but also provides the IRS the intrusive ability to audit Americans.
“If you sold a couch, re-sold tickets at the price you paid, or just did some extra work on the side, you could trigger greater scrutiny from the IRS,” Meuser emphasized. “This reporting requirement will not be targeting the wealthy but middle-class Americans who often send and receive money via Venmo and other services. The SNOOP Act would reverse the reporting threshold back to $20,000, ensuring everyday Americans are not subject to this IRS intrusion and overreach.”
Meuser said this requirement left unchecked, coupled with the hiring of 87,000 new IRS agents, is excessive and burdensome to taxpayers.
“This is an immense invasion of privacy and Big Brother at its worst,” Meuser said.
Pennsylvania 1,100-plus state
employees for their military service
Over the past several weeks, Gov. Tom Wolf, along with Commonwealth of Pennsylvania agency officials, recognized and thanked approximately 1,100 new commonwealth employees who serve or have served in the Armed Forces of the United States as part of the annual Pennsylvania State Employee Military Service Recognition Campaign.
About 17,000 state employees have been honored since the program was established in 2019. Those honored received a lapel pin featuring our nation’s flag and the commonwealth flag signifying their dual-service status.
“Now on the final stretch of my administration and reflecting on my time in office, I am proud to say that I have worked side-by-side with so many men and women who served both our country and the commonwealth,” said Gov. Wolf. “These are all special people who have a strong drive for protecting and improving the lives of others. They should all proudly wear the lapel pin in recognition of their selfless service.”
“Only about seven percent of all Pennsylvanians have served in the military. It is a small number of people, but they have had an enormous impact on the lives of 13 million Pennsylvanians,” said Maj. Gen. Mark Schindler, Pennsylvania’s adjutant general and head of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. “They are all truly deserving of this special recognition of their dual service and their commitment to the Commonwealth.”
The Pennsylvania State Employee Military Service Recognition Campaign also raises awareness about federal and state veteran benefits, encourages registration in the Pennsylvania Veterans Registry, and informs state employees about mentoring opportunities within our veterans’ communities.
Employees who serve or have served in the Armed Forces of the United States: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Space Force regardless of component are eligible for program participation and recognition.
Pennsylvania celebrates 32nd
annual Holiday Wish Program
Members of the Wolf Administration this week gathered to celebrate the 32nd Annual Holiday Wish Program, which will provide gifts to more than 600 people this year, including more than 200 families, across Pennsylvania.
The Holiday Wish program reaches individuals across Pennsylvania during the holiday season by providing gifts and resources to people in need.
Andrew Barnes, executive deputy secretary for the Department of Human Services (DHS), said, “Every person deserves to have a joyous holiday, but we know that not every family always has the means to make that happen in the way that they would like. That is why commonwealth employees work every day to ensure every Pennsylvanian has the resources they need to meet their basic needs and live their lives with the dignity we all deserve.”
Holiday Wish was started in 1989 by a small group of commonwealth employees and has since grown to include hundreds of employees across the commonwealth’s departments, including the Department of Labor & Industry, which inspected, and members of the Pennsylvania National Guard, who delivered nearly 600 toys to the Holiday Wish program this year.
Holiday Wish participants then select a few gifts they need or would like to receive, and state employees, private organizations, and individuals sponsor a family or individual to ensure they receive special gifts during the holiday season.