Driving is an important indicator of mobility in indus-trialised nations. Over 80% of individuals aged 65 years and older in the USA continue to drive. Research indicates that driving confers significant health benefit to older people, including increased social engagement, increased functional independence, decreased risk of depression and decreased use of long-term care. Unfortunately, driving is not free of risk. Older drivers tend to have higher per capita mortality from motor vehicle crashes and higher crash involvement per mile driven than drivers aged 35–64. The excess mortality from motor vehicle crashes for older adults is due largely to their depleted ability to survive injuries. Although their safety records are better than adolescent and young adult drivers, there is a pervasive mispercep-tion that older drivers are a major threat to other road users. In the past two decades, a variety of programmes, ranging from cognitive screening to driving rehabilita-tive therapy and restricted licensing, have been proposed to reduce the perceived risk posed by unfit older drivers. Public policy that optimises the balance between mobil-ity benefit and crash risk for older drivers is elusive and lacks an empirical basis. (Author/publisher)
Abstract