SACHA PFEIFFER. 90.9 WBUR

BOSTON — Genevieve Priest is 89-years-old and still has her driver’s license, but says she has mostly given up driving. She travels with a tank of oxygen connected to a tube in her nose, and she does not feel as strong as she used to.

“Well, I have a breathing problem, I don’t have the energy I had before, and my eyes are not as good as they used to be,” Priest says. “I would drive today if I had to, but I prefer not to.”

She still comes, though, to this weekly quilting group at the Belmont Senior Center. She usually gets dropped off by her husband, who is still driving at age 91.

“He’s been a tremendous good driver,” Priest says, “but lately we’re getting a little nervous about him driving because he doesn’t seem to have the confidence.”

A handful of recent high-profile car accidents involving elderly drivers has state lawmakers considering legislation that would require extra testing for older drivers. Supporters of the proposed new laws say people over a certain age are unsafe behind the wheel.

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Daniel D’Ambrosio, Fairfield County Weekly

Is there anything that gets better at the age of 85? Well, maybe, but I can tell you from experience it isn’t driving a car. Not that I’m that old — yet — but in a clever event staged by Boston-based Liberty Mutual insurance company last week at Rentschler Field, I got a taste of what it’s like to drive a car at an advanced age.

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Brad Drazen, WVIT-TV (Hartford NBC)

A video game is giving people of all ages senior moments behind the wheel.

The Driver Seat Game, is a flash-based video game that makes you feel like you have physical and cognitive limitations that older drivers might experience while they’re behind the wheel of a car.

Liberty Mutual, as in the insurance company, and ITNAmerica are behind the video game experience unlike any you’re likely to get from your Wii, XBox or PlayStation.

It’s part of a program that gives families resources to handle the issue of aging and its effect on driving, a real and difficult issue many families are bound to face at some point.

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Vivian Nereim, Boston Globe

EAST HARTFORD — The frustration sank in the moment I got in the car. I couldn’t reach the brake. Adjusting the driver’s seat seemed simple, but my back was stiff, my knees were stuck, and my hands were heavy. I sheepishly asked my driving instructor, Stephen Smith, if he could help. It was embarrassing, but I couldn’t do it on my own.

I was wearing a restrictive suit meant to simulate the bodily effects of aging as I fumbled through a closed driving course at Rentschler Field, practicing parking, navigating orange cones, and making emergency stops.

The suit and the course were part of a Liberty Mutual event on Wednesday marking the release of their “Driver Seat Game,” an online video game designed to simulate the physical and cognitive limitations experienced by many elderly drivers. The game, which went live Tuesday morning, is accessible at http://libertymutual.com/driverseat.

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