When someone cuts you off in traffic, takes crazy chances on the highway or honks at you for being a slow-driving senior, angry responses won't help. Here are some tips that could prevent road rage:

1. Always consider your safety and the safety of those in your car the first priority. No matter what else is happening on the road, stay calm and alert. Avoid any potential danger, especially if other drivers ignorantly or deliberately cause danger.

2. It's natural to become angry when you observe drivers making dangerous moves. If you feel your anger is turning into revenge or get-even action, take a moment to calm down. When cut off on the highway or street, it isn't worth your safety to get back at the offender by racing ahead, and doing the same dangerous maneuver just for the satisfaction of your bruised ego.

We all know the old saying: a place for everything and everything in its place. That doesn't always apply, particularly those of us with Alzheimer's symptoms or other diminishing mental capacities.

Especially when away from familiar surroundings, we forget where we've placed things, sometimes with frustrating results. If you have the symptoms or are traveling with a forgetful elderly person who needs help, there are ways to cope with the problem.

The growing symptoms of forgetfulness should be a warning signal to family and friends. After consulting with a physician, the senior should be convinced that traveling alone is no longer an option.

Companions help by making reservations, meeting schedules and other needs the senior now finds difficult to deal with alone. If done with compassion and a positive attitude, it will be effective.

Be sure the traveling senior has a Smartphone within reach at all times. Set it for loud ringing on incoming calls, and for single click dialing for emergency services, contacts at home, travel agency and physician.

Senior Correspondent LLF, Baton Rouge LA: The first thing seniors should know about a cross-country journey by car is to expect the unexpected. If it extends for as far as the nearly 3,000-miles across America coast to coast, glitches will happen. There are traffic jams, road repairs, detours, accidents and a host of other obstacles requiring drivers to be alert for anything at any time.

Make all the necessary pre-trip preparations, so that the journey has the best chance for optimum safety, efficiency and comfort. Complete check-ups for both car and driver will assure a less worrisome trip.

Cut and run thefts can be a serious problem for senior travelers. The tiny, skinny boxes held in a hand are easy targets for quick street robbers. Rome, Paris, Rio, Venice, Hong Kong and other typical tourist cities are known for their efficient street thieves.

On foot and with fast bikes and motor scooters, they swoop in on tourists. Without slowing, they grab their loot and dash away, often before the victims were aware it happened.