Scott Shenk

Jul. 13, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- By Scott Shenk

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Addie Lucille Staiger left her rural Fluvanna County home at about 11 a.m. Thursday to get her Mercury Marquis inspected at a nearby service station.

She told her husband Hugh she'd be back in a couple hours.

Instead, about eight hours later she pulled off at a truck stop and used a pay phone to call one of her daughters -- from Tennessee.

Apparently, she grew confused at some point after filling up her car at a familiar Palmyra gas station, Hugh Staiger said Friday afternoon from his home.

"We have no idea what went through her mind," he said. "And she probably doesn't either."

His 84-year-old wife's wayward journey has forced Hugh Staiger and his family to accept that she may no longer be able to drive, and because he also struggles to drive, it raises the question of how the couple will get around. And that's a common problem, according to the AAA Foundation and the Jefferson Area Board for Aging. Both say transportation for elderly residents who cannot drive is lacking. AAA also notes safety concerns that need to be addressed with an increasing elderly population.

While they have difficult questions to face, the Staiger family is just happy to have Addie back. For the better part of Thursday, they could only worry about what had happened to her.

Tennessee truck stop

After his wife stayed gone too long, Hugh Staiger and a son-in-law went looking for her. They didn't find her, so they called the Fluvanna Sheriff's Office, which quickly began a search and sent out information and a photo to area media.

"All the while, you never knew if she met with foul play," Hugh said of his wife of 63 years.

He said he doesn't know if his wife, a former secretary at the University of Virginia Medical Center, suffers from Alzheimer's disease, but her memory has deteriorated over the past five or six years.

"Those of us who don't have the disease, we don't know why she would go down 81 and see signs for Roanoke and not realize it," he said. "Her salvation was having enough sense to remember our daughter's phone number. She saved herself."

As evening closed in Thursday and her trip passed 300 miles, Addie Staiger's car was running low on gas.

She pulled off at a truck stop and called one of her two daughters, both of whom live on their parents' 180-acre farm.

The family contacted the Fluvanna Sheriff's Office, which in turn contacted authorities in Tennessee. They took Addie Staiger to a Salvation Army facility. Her daughters met her there and they stayed overnight in a hotel.

They brought her home Friday afternoon.

To drive or not to drive

Hugh Staiger, a good-natured 85-year-old retired from the Navy, suffers macular degeneration, so his poor eyesight prevents him from driving much.

"I'm an accident waiting to happen," he said.

"We've got to try and figure out what to do," he said. "The easy thing to do would be to take her keys from her, but I don't want to do that. ... She'd feel like a prisoner. It would be a hard thing for me to do. She's been driving for 63 years."

He figures they could get a cell phone with GPS, which would keep track of her location. But the safest move would be for her to no longer drive, he admitted. The Sheriff's Office could force her to go to the Division of Motor Vehicles, where she would have to take vision, written and driving tests.

If she failed, she would lose her license.

Lt. David Wells, of the Fluvanna Sheriff's Office, said it likely will have Addie Staiger take the tests if she plans to continue driving.

"It's sad, losing your independence," he said. But "we've got to look out for the greater good."

Hugh Staiger said his license will expire soon, and he doesn't plan to renew it.

That presents a problem. The Staigers live in a rural area. The nearest convenience store is 5 miles away; even their mailbox is a third of a mile from the house.

Hugh Staiger said they could pay someone to help, perhaps drive them around, but the couple is active and independent, so that could prove difficult.

Their daughters have told them they would help.

"They say they're dedicated, but I know damn well that'll get old," he said, noting that the golden years are "more like the rusty years."

Transportation options

Alternate transportation for the Charlottesville area has been a hot-button issue in recent years, but the focus has been mostly on those who can still drive, with officials intent on getting cars off area roads.

Options for the elderly who can no longer drive are scarce.

The AAA Foundation on Friday issued a report noting an expected increase in elderly drivers, along with the corresponding safety and mobility issues.

The foundation, part of AAA Mid-Atlantic, suggests that states create policies aimed at ensuring elderly drivers are "medically fit" to drive while also looking for alternative transportation for those who can't.

"This is not unusual ... to face this," Gordon Walker, chief executive of JABA, said of the Staigers' situation.

Telling a person they can no longer drive is very hard, he said.

"One of the most difficult things to do is take a license away," he said. "Particularly in rural areas that have no public transportation."

JABA focuses on alternatives to taking away someone's keys, such getting a cell phone for the elderly driver.

The nonprofit has a caseworker who helps with such situations. That person likely will contact the Staigers.

JABA also has volunteers who help elderly residents by driving them where they need to go. But there's a problem with that now, Walker said.

Rising gas prices have forced some volunteers to stop offering their help. It's just too expensive.

So that's one option the Staigers may not have much longer.

"We don't know what we're gonna do," Hugh Staiger said. "Nobody does until it happens."

Newstex ID: KRTB-0296-26623398