Driving Cessation and Health in Older Women

Abstract

To study the association of health and driving cessation in older female drivers, a mail survey was sent to all Finnish women born in 1927 who gave up their driver license at the age of 70 (n = 1,476) and to a corresponding random sample of women who renewed their license at the age of 70 (n = 1,494). The ex-drivers had poorer overall health status than the drivers, but the health conditions related to driving cessation were in general not of the type impairing driving ability but rather decreasing overall well-being and physical mobility. The results suggest that there is a significant number of older women giving up their license while still fit to drive; hence, for many women, driving cessation may imply a voluntary but unnecessary resignation from an active and independent life.

The Social and Policy Predictors of Driving Mobility Among Older Adults

“…Results suggest that older drivers should not be tested on the basis of their age but on the basis of their observed or reported abilities because the goal is to preserve mobility while ensuring public safety (Staplin & Lococo, 2003;Molnar, Eby, & Dobbs, 2005). In addition, some research has shown that age-based screening policies cause certain subgroups of safe, capable drivers (especially women) to stop driving prematurely (Siren, Hakamies-Blomqvist, & Lindeman, 2004). More recent work proposes that driver diagnostics and screenings can improve safety and be cost-effective if they target subgroups of drivers who have identifiable high-risk factors, such as diagnosed dementia, rather than targeting the general population (Hakamies-Blomqvist, Siren, & Davidse, 2004).…”

Older People's Mobility: Segments, Factors, Trends

“…Older women are also more likely to give up driving prematurely; that is, when they are still fit to drive (e.g., Bauer, Adler, Kuskowski, & Rottunda, 2003;Hjorthol, 2013;Siren, Hakamies-Blomqvist, & Lindeman, 2004;Siren & Haustein, 2014b;Transek, 2005).…”

Driving licences and medical screening in old age: Review of literature and European licensing policies

“…Women especially often give up their licence when they are still fit to drive (Siren and Haustein, 2014;Siren et al 2004) and could be even more encouraged to do so by an extensive renewal procedure. If the population based health visits at certain ages are seen as a necessary societal investment, we recommend these visits to have more meaningful scope than that of traffic safety only.…”

“…First, screening aims to assess "individual risk", which has been criticised conceptually (Hakamies-Blomqvist, 2006 Siren et al 2004). Their mobility thereafter is likely to be maintained through less safe modes of transportation.…”

“…Previous research has shown that coercive renewal policies especially make women likely to stop driving prematurely, that is, when still fit to drive (Hakamies-Blomqvist and Wahlström, 1998;Rimmö and Hakamies-Blomqvist, 2002;Siren et al 2004;Wilkins et al 1999). In addition, older women more often than men tend to suffer from non-fatal, long term conditions that do not hamper the ability to drive a car, but affect the physical mobility and, thus, make daily transport by alternative modes difficult (e.g., Leveille et al 2000), which makes the mobility disadvantage due to premature cessation even worse.…”