Safe mobility for senior citizens

Abstract

The number of licensed older people will more than double in the next 25 years in the United States. There is a need to focus on ways of ensuring the safety of all road users without unduly restricting the mobility of older drivers. At present, it is extremely difficult to identify older driver groups who pose an undue risk to others and to assess their driving capabilities.Older drivers as a group are not a significant risk to others based upon their number of crashes per licensed driver. However. they do have a higher crash and fatality rate per mile driven than all but the youngest (16-20) driver age groups. Driving patterns and crash involvement of the elderly are reviewed, with emphasis on the role of medical conditions and functional limitations. Drivers who understand their own limitations tend to change their behavior to accommodate declining capabilities.Those unaware of limitations tend not to take corrective action, placing them at higher risk of crashes. Those who stop driving travel much less. are less satisfied in reaching their mobility needs and are more likely to be depressed. Research is under way to differentiate groups who are at higher risk and to develop ways to identify and assess their performance.

Self-regulation of driving and its relationship to driving ability among older adults

“…The relative ease of avoiding parallel parking would be due to drivers being able to find parking spaces that did not require that manoeuvre. Avoidance of peak hour, on the other hand, could be related to retirement and the ability to choose when driving is done (Eberhard, 1996).…”

Self-Regulation of Driving and Older Drivers' Functional Abilities

“…Similarly, few drivers in the study were affected by cognitive impairment and so a restricted range of scores on the measures of mental status would have made it unlikely that mental status was found to be related to driving performance in this study. Previous studies have found that declines in mental status are related to losses of driving ability (Clark et al, 2000;Cushman, 1996;Fitten et al, 1995;Rizzo, McGehee, Dawson, & Anderson, 2001) but that drivers affected by such declines lack the necessary insight to enact self-regulation (Adler, Rottunda, & Kuskowski, 1999;Ball et al, 1998;Eberhard, 1996).…”

“…Successful self-regulation should result in decreased older driver crashes through a reduction in exposure and, particularly, a reduction in exposure to difficult situations and conditions, whilst still allowing the maintenance of mobility (Stalvey & Owsley, 2000). Studies of self-regulation have revealed that older drivers often report deliberately avoiding a number of difficult driving situations and conditions, including night driving, inclement weather, busy traffic, high speed roads, unfamiliar areas, and unprotected turns across traffic or at complex junctions (Eberhard, 1996;Gallo, Rebok, & Lesikar, 1999;Holland & Rabbitt, 1994).…”

The Social and Policy Predictors of Driving Mobility Among Older Adults

“…Many researchers in the United States have argued that, in general, elderly drivers are aware of their problems and are able to compensate for their impairment by reducing their annual driving and regulating the time and location of their driving (Evans, 1988;Eberhard, 1996;Smiley, 1999;Rosenbloom & Stahl, 2002). Further gains in safety are believed to be achieved by encouraging older drivers to learn and use compensatory driving strategies when necessary (AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 1994;Eby, Molnar, Shope, Vivoda, & Fordyce, 2003).…”