Brain training reduces auto accidents in elderly

How can we make older drivers safer on the road? A new study contends that brain-training exercises may be the answer.

Older people accounted for 15 percent of all traffic fatalities and 18 percent of all pedestrian deaths, according to a 2008 traffic safety report released by the National Center for Statistics and Analysis.

The study, documented in the November 2010 edition of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, follows 908 drivers over a six-year period with the average age of 73. Those studied were assigned a slew of brain-training exercises using the InSight program.

Participants who underwent the “speed-of-processing” course had fewer at-fault accidents that were 50 percent lower compared to the control group, the study suggest.

"Considering the importance of driving mobility and the cost of crashes, cognitive training has great potential to sustain independence and quality of life in older adults," says paper co-author Jerri Edwards, associate professor of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida. "But importantly, this study provides further evidence that the right kind of brain training program can generalize to improve real-world activities among older adults."

Want more information regarding auto insurance for high-risk groups? Contact one of our licensed insurance reps at Consumer United here.

Independent gas stations go extra mile

As Americans try hard to cut down on the number of miles they log and more and more families are leaving their SUVs at home, gas station owners are forced to compete for every gallon they sell.

Some have tied to capitalize on the old-fashioned advantage of having the best service in town. Route 102 Gas in Londonderry, NH, an independent gas station, washes windows and checks the oil of their customers, all without charge.

Owners can decide what level of service they provide to the customers, but they often have little control of the price of their gas.

"Customers can complain all they want, but there's not much they can do," says Ralph Stowell, owner of a LukOil station, to the Eagle Tribune.

Just a few cents can be the deciding factor, the Eagle Tribune discovered after conducting an informal survey last week. In North Andover, Mass, the Gulf and Mobil stations posted prices four cents apart.

After nearly an hour, not a single car had stopped at Gulf, the station with the more expensive gas. "It's not like years ago," said William Burke to the Eagle Tribune. He has owned the Mobil station for more than thirty years. "It's a price-driven market."

Occasionally, though, customers are willing to pay the extra few cents to continue buying from their favorite stations.

Jay Pelletier of Chester, NH, arrived to fill up his motorcycle. He told the Eagle Tribune he has a "loyalty to Shell and its convenience to the highway."

That loyalty is a value that gas station owners are hoping to capitalize on. They can’t always lower prices so they have to find other ways to keep drivers coming back.

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--Bridget O'Sullivan