This article reports on a semester-long course offered by the UC Berkeley Traffic Safety Center and the Academic Geriatric Resource Program in spring 2001 on the traffic safety problems that challenge the older population. Key observations include the fact that more older people are driving than ever before and they are driving more miles than their counterparts in the past. Many older people are aging in place in suburban or semi-urban areas that do not offer many alternative modes of transportation other than the car, and despite cliched perceptions, older drivers do not pose a greater risk to other drivers and in fact are safer than most younger drivers. The gravest dangers are those they pose to themselves, which suggests that the transportation system is not serving them well. About 90% of the trips taken by older adults are made in cars. Partly, this is because so many more women are driving in their older years than in the past. Mobility is a key factor to overall well-being, and older drivers tend to gradually drop out of the driving population, self-regulating such as restricting their hours and the types of roads they drive on. More needs to be known about how deterioration of specific skills affect the ability to drive safely and how licensing procedures could better reflect the gradual loss of skills. In addition, changes in the way roads are designed and cars are operated could help older drivers stay on the road longer and also help other parts of the population who may not be well served now.
Abstract