The last decade has seen a large amount of road safety effort put into investigating the so-called older driver problem. As a consequence, our knowledge of older drivers and their functional performance, their driving and crash patterns and their crash risk, has increased substantially. However the research has given little direct attention to the special challenges that older drivers pose to a Safe System approach to road safety. During this same decade, Australasian jurisdictions have increasingly accepted a Safe System approach to managing road safety. This paper aims to evaluate the latest research findings: 1. to assess the extent and nature of older drivers' crash risk in both absolute and relative terms; 2. to identify the array of effective countermeasures compatible with Safe System principles. Topics covered include: physical frailty, the low mileage bias, fitness to drive, self-regulation, safer roads, safer cars and safer road users. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E215375.
Abstract