About Event

On April 26, occupational therapists from Hendricks Regional Health will host a Carfit event for local senior citizens. The event will take place from 9 a.m. until noon at the Hendricks County Senior Center, 1201 Sycamore Lane, Danville. Each Carfit check will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. CarFit is an educational program, created by the American Society on Aging, that offers older adults the opportunity to check how well their personal vehicles "fit" them and actions they can take to improve their fit and safety.

The CarFit program also provides information and materials on community-specific resources that could enhance their safety as drivers, and/or increase their mobility in the community. Carfit was developed through collaboration with the American Automobile Association, American Association of Retired Persons and the American Occupational Therapy Association. Although older drivers tend to have safe driving habits, they are more likely to be killed or seriously injured when a crash does occur due to the greater fragility of their bodies. A proper fit in one's car can greatly increase not only the driver's safety but also the safety of others.

Based on findings from the CarFit checklists completed at previous Carfit events and follow-up surveys of participants, the program appears to be highly effective on multiple fronts. Some of the Carfit results show:
• More than one-third of seniors had at least one critical safety issue needing addressed
• Ten percent were seated too close to the steering wheel
• Approximately 20 percent did not have a line of sight at least three inches over the steering wheel
• The vast majority of Carfit survey respondents indicated that as a result of having gone through the CarFit event, they made a change to improve the fit of their vehicle, their use of safety features in their vehicle and/or their willingness to discuss their driving with family and/or health care providers

For more information about the Carfit event, call (317) 745-3420.