"The DMV renews your license by practically just looking at you," says Ray, who with Giuffre volunteers at the Willow Glen American Association of Retired Persons.

Ray says the AARP offers the driver refresher course monthly. The classes help seniors "brush up" on their driving skills, she says, and keep people aware of defensive driving habits.

In light of the recent tragedies that involved senior drivers—such as the one in which an 86-year-old man plowed through a Santa Monica farmers market on July 17, killing 10 people, and the Labor Day accident when an 85-year-old man hit and injured four people on the Santa Cruz wharf—Giuffre says these events have been "a wake-up call" for seniors who drive.

Ray added that the crash in Santa Cruz was more of a "fluky thing" than the norm because the double accelerator pedals were outdated and the driver was not familiar with the car.

While the incidents at the Santa Cruz Wharf and in Santa Monica "grabbed people's attention," you can't say seniors as a group are poor drivers, San Jose Police Sgt. Steve Dixon says.

Of the 20 fatal accidents in San Jose this year, only one involved a senior citizen, Dixon says.

And seniors are trying to keep their skills current. John Preovolos, 80, another AARP volunteer, teaches a 55 Alive class at the Willows Senior Center, where the focus is on safe driving and seniors exercising more caution, he says.

Preovolos believes the recent tragedies have "brought senior driving to the attention of people who don't like elder drivers," but he doesn't think that is the primary reason seniors are taking the course. Preovolos attributed the classes' popularity to the insurance benefits.

The class reviews various driving aspects—an overall evaluation of driving skills, physical and mental changes, trouble spots and freeway- and intersection-driving behavior. Preovolos says that intersections cause seniors the most problems, especially when it involves knowing who has the right of way, because their reaction time is slower and their vision has changed with age.

Ray says the class helped answer one of her lingering traffic questions.

"I've often wondered if it's legal at a four-way stop for two cars going in the opposite direction to go at the same time, and I found out it is." The class is more of a participatory discussion than a lecture, with people sharing anecdotal information, she adds.

Ray says the 55 Alive courses offered throughout the valley are always full, but after the fatalities in Santa Monica the AARP center was "deluged" with calls requesting information.

The list of upcoming classes appears every three months in the AARP office, and five of the seven classes in offered in September are enrolled to capacity, Ray says, with November classes filling up quickly.

Classes at the tiny AARP office on Willow Street are capped at 16, but the senior center can accommodate 30 students. The Metropolitan Education District also holds a "Mature Drivers Improvement" class on Saturdays at the senior center for those who still work.

During a recent class at the senior center, participants discussed what many consider a key to continuing independence: When is the right time to retire from driving?

"If you live long enough, everyone has to face it," Preovolos says. "If a person is honest, they'll know their time has come."

He asks the class whether they know anyone who should not be driving, and three or four people will often raise their hand. Then Preovolos asks what have they done about it and the reaction is "poignant," he says.

People are usually embarrassed to discuss it. But family members can advise seniors or speak with a doctor, who must notify the DMV if a medical condition makes the driver unsafe on the road.

Seniors should limit driving when they completely avoid freeways and complain of poor night vision. This is when they should consider giving up their license, Preovolos says. Other signs that they are not fit to drive include having many close calls and people honking or passing them on both sides.

Dealing with aging family members who drive becomes difficult when they live far away and are unwilling to give up their license, says Susan Duarte, program coordinator at the Willows Senior Center.

Her father is going blind and still drives himself around Roseville. Duarte has made calls to discourage him and alert his doctor. She says the responsibility lies with the physician to report it.

She told her father, "If you keep driving, I'm not going to count on an inheritance because somebody may sue you."

But Duarte adds most seniors do drive safely.

"It's not seniors who whip by me on the freeway, weaving in and out of lanes," she says.

At the senior center, Duarte observed that many seniors are anxious about renewing their license, more anxious than her 15-year-old granddaughter is about getting her license for the first time, she says.

According to the AARP website, statistically seniors have fewer accidents than drivers under age 34 do, but they also drive less.

Willow Glen resident Bert Austin, 78, hopes the day won't come when he'll have to give up driving. He works part time as a shuttle driver for a car company and uses his own car once a day.

"It would mean real confinement if I couldn't drive," he says, adding that if he had to switch to another form of transportation, he would choose the light-rail system.

Austin, who takes computer classes at the senior center, says that he has heard about the AARP driver-safety classes and has been meaning to take one but hasn't yet.

The discounts are a relatively small percentage of the premium, but it helps those on a fixed income, Willow Glen Farmer's Insurance agent Ron Merz says.

"Everybody can learn something from it, because not everything is in the DMV manual," he adds.

Although the class benefits seniors who are renewing their licenses and reduces the insurance premiums, only 10 percent of Merz's clients take the class and he isn't sure why. Merz says Farmer's Insurance sends a brochure to customers over 55 advertising the driver safety courses.

The 8-hour course is divided into two four-hour days and only costs $10 per person. Once they have completed the course, participants receive a three-year certificate, which they present to their insurance company for semiannual discounts.

For Giuffre, who also uses Outreach Paratransit to go to his weekly dialysis appointments, giving up driving in recent years has made his life easier, but he can rely on Ray to drive him around.

Yet Ray says that's just the decision "we've chosen at this time."

For more information on AARP classes, contact 408.278.1855 or visit 840 Willow St., Suite 300. To request an "Older Driver Skill Assessment and Resource Guide," write to AARP Fulfillment, P.O. Box 96796, Washington, D.C. 20090-6796.