About 40 senior citizens were gathered in the education center at Butler Memorial Hospital. Their instructor, Leo Parisi, a senior citizen himself, asked who owned a car with an anti-lock braking system. Most of the hands went up.

When no one admitted afterward to having a car with a conventional braking system, Parisi then asked who didn't know the difference. The question was met by embarrassed murmurings and several raised hands, some of which had been raised after the first question.

It is an illustration Parisi likes to use during his safe driving courses for senior citizens. He feels it shows clearly one of the issues facing senior drivers: changing technology in automobiles.

"We don't know what's under our foot," Parisi said.

Parisi's company, Seniors for Safe Driving, teaches almost 400 courses each year in Western Pennsylvania. This year, Parisi projects up to 23,000 seniors will attend the classes.

Most seniors take the course to get a 5-percent discount on their automobile insurance. State law requires the discount for all people 55 or older who attend an approved driving course. The course has to be repeated every three years for the discount to continue.

"There lies the motive for them to take the class," Parisi said. "I think they learn something about themselves, too, and we want them to apply it to their driving."

Seniors learn how the driving habits they have formed over the previous decades may be ineffective when driving a modern vehicle with air bags and anti-lock brakes.

They also learn about slowing reaction times that come with age and simple things they can do to improve eyesight for nighttime driving. Often nighttime eyesight can be improved by switching to more appropriate corrective lenses and by wearing sunglasses during daytime driving, Parisi said.

Most course attendees admit to being there for the insurance discount, but they get some helpful information along the way.

"I was really interested in that night driving part because I don't drive at night. I can't see," said Dorothy Stauffer of Butler Township. Stauffer took the class recently at Butler Memorial Hospital.

She said she would investigate further some of the tips Parisi gave for improving nighttime eyesight.

This was Stauffer's third time through the class. In addition to the insurance discount, she said she attends to hear about the new technology being used in cars.

"You always pick up something you don't know," she said.

Dave Blair, a resident of Sarver, agreed.

"For people who have driven with those older systems, a lot of us haven't thought about those new systems. We're still driving the same way," Blair said.

The class offers tips for changing driving techniques to accommodate new technologies. For instance, attendees are told where the best locations are for hands on a steering wheel equipped with an air bag.

The classes also serve as a useful review for safe driving techniques that may have been forgotten, Blair said."By the time you get as old as we are, you'll forget, too," he said. "A lot of this helps to remind us."Charlotte Booth of Butler said taking the course has helped her to feel safer on the road by making her more alert to her surroundings."I'm aware of other drivers and anticipate what they might do. (The driving courses) give us that, make us more alert," she said. "We realize what can happen to us."The courses, usually taught in two half-day classes for about $12 per person, are held periodically throughout the year at various locations throughout the county. Butler Memorial Hospital hosts 11 sessions each year, and Butler Senior Center hosts the course six times a year. Other locations include car dealers, brokerage firms, hospitals and senior centers in Cranberry Township, Chicora, Saxonburg, Zelienople, Slippery Rock and Grove City.The teaching features casual lecture with some instructional video. Parisi and his instructors, trained through the American Automobile Instructors Certification Program, often use anecdotes and personal experience to illustrate points. Parisi also gives helpful hints during the course, such as which products to apply to a car windshield for easier driving in the rain."There isn't anything in the class that would intimidate a senior," Parisi said.He is careful not to tell anybody they should not be driving because of their age, but he does give tips on how to personally make that decision. In doing so, he often tells the story of a 94-year-old woman who took the course and repeated it at ages 97 and 100."We're here trying to extend people's driving lives so people can keep that ticket to independence," he said.More information about Seniors for Safe Driving courses can be found at www.sfsd-pa.com or by calling 800-559-4880.