Population ageing, gender and the transportation system

Abstract

Across the globe population structures are aging and how older men and women interact with the transport system is increasingly important in maintaining a good quality of life and inclusion in society. The paper reviews three issues: the nature of older people's interaction with the transport system by gender; older people's attitude to travel; and the involvement of older people as road traffic casualties. Patterns of travel in the UK show that older people are heavily dependent on car use, but in the form of more frequent but shorter journeys than younger people. This is especially so for women over 70 years old who, as passengers, are very reliant on males to drive them. Attitudes suggest that there are few obstacles to public transport use, and most agree that bus travel is good, but convenience means many prefer cars. Involvement of older men and women in serious road traffic accidents show that they have lower killed and seriously injured (KSI) rates than 17-24 year old drivers. However, those aged over 70 years exhibit a trend to increasing KSI rates. Analysis of casualty rates of drivers by type of junction, manoeuvre and environmental conditions found that some gender-age groups are overrepresented in certain accident types, including over twice higher serious accidents rates for men, but over representation of older women when driving in poor conditions and turning right and negotiating roundabouts, crossroads and T, Y and staggered junctions. Improvement in engineering design and driver training are suggested together with the need for a greater understanding of the transportation system needs of old and vey old people.

Older People's Mobility: Segments, Factors, Trends

“…Older women also report more difficulties with all transport modes than older men (Li et al, 2012). Their transportation problems are significantly related to income and income-satisfaction, while this is not the case for older men (Dubuis, Weiss, & Wolfson, 2007).…”

“…Although car ownership among older women has significantly increased during the past decades (e.g., Hjorthol, Levin, & Siren, 2010), older women are still less likely to hold a driving licence compared to men (e.g., Hjorthol et al, 2010;Frändberg & Vilhelmson, 2011;Li, Raeside, Chen, & McQuaid, 2012;Siren & Haustein, 2013). 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).…”

“…Older women walk more often and travel more by public transport, whereas older men drive more frequently. When travelling in a personal vehicle, older women are more often passengers and not drivers (Hanson & Hildebrand, 2011;Li et al, 2012;Rosenbloom, 2006;Siren & Hakamies-Blomqvist, 2006) and not all gender differences in mode choice can be explained by differences in licensing and car availability Le Vine & Jones, 2012).…”

“…Women are mostly found to make fewer daily trips, especially by car (e.g., Li et al, 2012;Mollenkopf et al, 2004;Rosenbloom, 2006;). This has been interpreted as indicating a gender-related disadvantage in mobility, which is further supported by findings showing that older women depend more on others for their personal travel needs (Siren & Hakamies-Blomqvist, 2006), are more affected by loss of a spouse with regard to unfulfilled travel needs (Ahern & Hine, 2012) and experience more unmet travel needs than men (Hjorthol, 2013;Scheiner, 2006;.…”

Attitudes among older drivers towards medical assessment at renewal of driving license in Sweden

“…When travelling in a car, older men are more often drivers and women are more often passengers [20][21][22][23][24]. A common phenomenon is that women drive less as they age, finally ceasing driving because their husbands are the main drivers.…”