Page 16 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, FEbrUAry 2, 2024 Say nr Sa a y Senior Seni by Jim Miller Keeping Older Drivers Safe on the Road Dear Savvy Senior, What safety tips can you recommend for older drivers? My 86-year-old mother, who still drives herself, had a fender bender last month and I worry about her safety. Back Seat Daughter Dear Back Seat, With more and more older Americans driving well into their 70s, 80s and beyond, there are a variety of things your mom can do to help maintain and even improve her driving skills. Here are some recommendations by driving rehabilitation specialists that work with older drivers. Get an eye exam: Because about 90 percent of the information necessary to drive is received through our eyes, this is a good fi rst step in ensuring your mom’s driving safety. So, get your mom’s eyes checked every year to be sure her vision and eyewear is up to par. Get a physical or wellness exam: As people age, it’s also very important to monitor changes in overall health as it relates to driving. Medical conditions like arthritis, dementia, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, sleep apnea and stroke can all aff ect driving. In addition, many seniors also take multiple medications or combinations of medications that can make them drowsy or lightheaded, which can impair judgment or aff ect refl exes or alertness necessary for safe driving. So, an annual physical or wellness examination and medication review is also a smart way to verify your mom’s driving safety. Ta k e a r e f r es h e r course: AARP and the American Automobile Association (AAA) both have older driver improvement courses that can help your mom brush up her driving skills and understand how to adjust for slower refl exes, weaker vision and other age-related physical changes that can aff ect driving. Taking a class may also earn her a discount on her auto insurance. To locate a class, contact your local AAA (AAA.com) or AARP (AARPdriversafety.org, 888227-7669). Most courses cost around $20 to $30 and can be taken online. Make some adjustments: Adjusting when and where your mom drives are another way to help keep her safe and behind the wheel longer. Some simple adjustments include not driving after dark or during rush hour traffi c, avoiding major highways or other busy roads, and not driving in poor weather conditions. Evaluate her driving: To stay on top of your mom’s driving abilities you should take a ride with her from timeto-time watching for problem areas. For example: Does she drive at inappropriate speeds, tailgate or drift between lanes? Does she have diffi culty seeing, backing up or changing lanes? Does she react slowly, get confused easily or make poor driving decisions? For more evaluation tips, AAA offers a senior driver self-rating assessment exercise (Drivers 65 Plus) that you or she can access at Exchange. AAA.com/safety/senior-driver-safety-mobility. If your mom needs a more thorough evaluation, you can turn to a driver rehabilitation specialist who’s trained to evaluate older drivers and off er suggestions and adaptations to help keep her safe. But be aware that this type of assessment can run anywhere between $100 and $500 or more. To locate a professional in your area, visit ADED. net or AOTA.org – search “driving practitioner directory.” When it gets to the point that your mom’s driving isn’t safe anymore and she needs to quit, you may need to help her create a list of names and phone numbers of family, friends and local transportation services that she can call on for a ride. To fi nd out what transportation services are available in your mom’s area contact the Eldercare Locator (800-6771116), which will direct you to her area agency on aging for assistance. Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book. nior ior Beacon Hill Roll Call By Bob Katzen THE HOUSE AND SENATE: There were no roll calls in the House and Senate last week. This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call reports on the number of times each representative sided with Gov. Maura Healey on her 24 vetoes of mostly state budget items in the 2023 legislative session.A two-thirds vote is required to override a gubernatorial veto. In a full 160-member House, the governor needs the support of 54 representatives to sustain a veto when all 160 representatives vote—and fewer votes when some members are absent or a seat is vacant. Healey fell short of that goal as 25 votes was the most support she received on any veto. The House easily overrode all 24 vetoes, including nine that were overridden unanimously.No Democrats voted with Healey to sustain any vetoes. All 134 voted to override all the vetoes. Only GOP members voted with Healey to sustain the vetoes, but no Republican representative voted with Healey 100 percent of the time. The three GOP members who voted with Healey the most times are Reps. Marc Lombardo (R-Billerica) and Nicholas Boldyga (R-Southwick) who both voted with her 14 times (58.3 percent); and Donald Berthiaume (R-Spencer) who voted with her 12 times (50 percent).The GOP member who supported Healey the least number of times was Rep. David Vieira (R-Falmouth) who voted with Healey only seven times (29.1 percent). NUMBER OF TIMES REPRESENTATIVES SUPPORTED GOV. HEALEY’S VETOES IN THE 2023 SESSION Gov. Healey vetoed 24 proposals that were approved by the Legislature in 2023. Here is how your representative fared in his or her support of Gov. Healey on the vetoes. The percentage next to the representative’s name represents the percentage of times that he or she supported Healey. The number in parentheses represents the actual number of times the representative supported Healey. Rep. Jessica Giannino (0) Rep. Donald Wong 41.6 percent (10) ALSO UP ON BEACON HILLHEALEY FILES $58.15 BILLION FISCAL YEAR 2025 STATE BUDGET – Gov. Maura Healy fi led her second annual state budget, this one with a price tag of $58.15 billion. The package calls for about $2.07 billion or 3.7 percent more 0 percent spending compared to the fi scal 2024 budget she signed in August 2023.“We are tightening our belts,” Healey said. “I want to be clear about that, Our economy remains strong, but the revenue picture is changing. Pandemic-era funding relief has gone away, and nationally, the economic recovery has stabilized. So, in this environment, it is important that we manage spending in a way that is making strategic choices, examining the impact of every dollar we propose to spend and that we bring our budget in line with a rate of infl ation and in line with the resources and the revenue that we have.”“What Gov. Maura Healey is proposing is an irresponsible budget, coming in higher than last year which was already too high, while missing the much-needed reforms to curtail our immigration problems along with making our state more competitive,” said Paul Craney, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. “The governor is continuing to spend taxpayer money on immigrants, while cutting spending on taxpayers, closing a state jail and shifting money away from dedicated savings. The governor describes this budget as fi scally responsible, but this budget refl ects a state that is fi scally crumbling from the top down.”“As a former mayor, and someone who has traveled around the state listening to our local offi - cials, I’m proud of the way that this budget proposal responds to local needs,” said Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll. “We’re fully funding the Student Opportunity Act to make sure our K-12 schools have equitable access to the resources their students and educators need. We’re also increasing the amount of local aid going to cities and towns and boosting Chapter 90 funding to improve roads and bridges, particularly in rural communities.”“Gov. Healey has filed a fiscal year 2025 budget that calls for significantly increased spending across state government, but those aspirations need to be tempered by the fi scal realities facing the commonwealth,” said House Minority Leader Rep. Brad Jones (R-North Reading). “After six-plus months of tax revenues coming in lower than expected, Gov. Healey has already implemented hundreds of millions of dollars in mid-year cuts and downgraded projected revenues by $1 billion for fi scal year 2024. At the same time, funding for the migrant shelter crisis continues to drain much-needed revenues that would otherwise have been spent on other programs and services, with no end in sight.”The budget now goes to the House which will craft and approve its own version and then it moves to the Senate which will off er a diff erent plan. A House-Senate conference committee will eventually hammer out a compromise version that will be approved by both branches and sent to Gov. Healey who has the power to veto any spending and any other items. The House and Senate can then choose to override any of the governor’s vetoes. GOV. HEALEY SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER INSTITUTING SKILLS-BASED HIRING – Gov. Healey signed an executive order requiring all state agencies to institute skills-based hiring practices. The order requires hiring to focus primarily on an applicant’s skills, knowledge and abilities rather than educational credentials. The only jobs exempt from the requirement are jobs when education degree conditions are absolutely necessary for the performance of the job. In addition, people in charge of hiring will receive training to help them implement these new hiring policies. “As the state’s largest employer, we rely on a strong, diverse workforce to deliver crucial services and programs for Massachusetts residents, businesses and communities every day,” said Healey. “But too many job applicants are being held back by unnecessary degree requirements. This Executive Order directs our administration to focus on applicants’ skills and experiences, rather than college credentials. It will expand our applicant pool and help us build a more inclusive and skilled workforce than ever before. Our administration is leading by example, and we encourage the business community to join us by adopting similar skills-based hiring practices.” “Massachusetts has an incredible opportunity to leverage its platform as a major employer, lead by example, and encourage more employers to do the same,” said Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Lauren Jones. “As employers, including the commonwealth, embrace a skills-based hiring practice, we will collectively open more opportunities to hire, retain and develop the diverse, skilled talent employers need to grow and thrive in regions across the state.” FREE BUSES (H 3266) - The Transportation Committee held a hearing on legislation that would create a 1-year pilot program for free access to bus service for the MBTA and regional transit authorities. The measure also would establish advisory committees to evaluate the impacts of the pilot program on ridership, equity, increased access, effi ciency, on-time perforBEACON HILL ROLL | SEE PAGE 17
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