ah, yes....the soft landing....
she just got sick right before she entered the busy highway....
I would venture a guess that this lady, nice older lady that she may be, has had recurring medical problems for some time....
memory loss?...poor mobility?...poor eyesight?....reflexes shot?...
maybe she has had recurring angina attacks or TIA's...
If this lady was 23 instead of 73, we wouldn't be saying that she fell "ill"...we would be having her blood alcohol level checked and a drug screen run on her.. and if nothing showed up, we would rush to condemn the lazy, inattentive youthfulness and try to enact more laws to stop her.....
BTW...the elderly population is notorious for their use of many pain killers....
I would love to see a breakdown on that....
I just get sick of the hypocrisy when it comes to evaluating drivers....you just can not do anything wrong when your elderly....but if you're 20, look out, they throw the book at you.....( I have two whole tickets in my entire life so this is not sour grapes)
A diabetic is supposed to test her blood sugar before getting behind the wheel. (this is Am. Diabetes Assn. advice, not the law) Of course, most don't. One can have low blood sugar at any time. Usually, you get a feeling that something is wrong and you should have enough time to pull over. However, people who get 'lows' frequently can lose their ability to tell when they are coming on.
Couple this possiblity with any meds the driver may have been taking and she was probably taking a chance every time she drove.
My friend was almost run over by an elderly driver just the other day. Why can't older drivers realize their response rates, etc. are just not the way the were and stop driving?