Traffic safety improvements will become increasingly important as the largest generation in American history - the Baby Boomers - approach retirement. Significant safety improvements to our nation's roads will help preserve and extend the personal mobility these older drivers have enjoyed throughout their lives in a safer driving environment. The major findings of this report are as follows: 1. The number of older drivers being killed in motor vehicle accidents is increasing, even as overall fatal traffic crashes have declined over the past several years. 2. Older Americans are becoming an increasingly larger segment of the total population. 3. Highway travel per person by older Americans is increasing at twice the rate of travel by other Americans. 4. Based primarily on its analysis of the 1998 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) report, "Older Driver Highway Design Handbook", The Road Information Program (TRIP) recommends following a comprehensive set of safety improvements in the areas of signage and lighting, intersections, and streets and highways in order to improve older driver safety. (Author/publisher)
Abstract