Older adults make up a growing percentage of the driving population, both nationally and here in North Carolina. According to U.S. Census estimates, the number of persons ages 65 and older will grow by 20 million, or 60 percent, over the next quarter century. Numbers of older drivers will grow at an even faster rate, as more females and minorities are licensed and as those having licenses maintain them longer. Today, one in eight licensed North Carolina drivers is age 65 or above; by 2030, this number is expected to reach one in five. While older drivers are involved in relatively small numbers of crashes, their crash rate based on the miles they drive rises sharply after age 70 or 75. Drivers ages 75 and above have a 24 percent higher crash rate than all drivers (Cerrelli, 1998). Their rate of fatal crash involvement is even more elevated, due to their greater vulnerability to injury once in a crash. Driving is a complex task requiring integration of a number of visual, cognitive, and psychomotor skills. Many of the skills needed to operate a motor vehicle safely may be compromised with age or as a consequence of the various medical conditions that often accompany ageing. Still, older people, like the rest of the driving population, are overwhelmingly dependent on private vehicles to meet their transportation needs. Data from the 1995 Nationwide Transportation Survey has shown that 90 percent of the trips older adults make are in personal vehicles, and that for nearly two-thirds of these trips, they drive themselves. Clearly there is a need to allow older adults to continue to drive as long as they can do so safely. Among older persons, the ability to drive and to provide for one’s own transportation needs has been linked to overall satisfaction and quality of life. The problem becomes one of balancing personal mobility with personal and public safety. Restricted licensing may be a potentially useful tool for helping some older adults drive safely longer. While most motor vehicle departments issue restrictive licenses, very few adapt them to the lifestyle and the performance skills of older drivers. Specially tailored restrictions such as daylight driving only, driving within a certain radius of the home, driving only to and from the store or church, etc., are possible. In practice, however, most older drivers either keep their licenses without restrictions or lose them entirely. Three separate tasks were carried out to evaluate the potential usefulness of restricted licensing as a tool for helping some older adults continue to drive safely longer. The first task involved an analysis of North Carolina driver history and motor vehicle crash data to determine the frequency that restrictions are placed on the licenses of older drivers, and how the crash experience of restricted drivers differs from that of unrestricted drivers. The second task involved a survey of licensed drivers ages 65 and older to learn what they knew and felt about restricted licensing. A final project task utilised a mail survey to obtain the input of driver license examiners on the topic. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting