This report describes and explains present patterns of car availability and use among the elderly, and the role of different forms of transport in their daily travel. The main sources of data are the national travel survey and a survey of old people in guildford. Comparisons are made between elderly people and younger adults. Levels of car availability and use vary within the elderly population according to personal and household circumstances. Past patterns of growth in car ownership and licence-holding and those changes associated with ageing which lead people to give up their cars are also strong influences on car availability. Data on the process of giving up cars and current levels of car availability among the people who will be elderly by 2001 are used to suggest levels of car availability among the elderly in 2001. It appears that while there will be substantial increases in car availability among the elderly, the overriding influences of health and financial circumstances will limit car availability so that at least half of the elderly population will be living in households without a car and will therefore be largely dependent on walking and some form of public transport for meeting daily requirements. (Author/publisher)
Abstract