Limited-access freeways, including the interstate highway system, are among the safest types of roads; their use is important for achieving full driving mobility. Many features of these high-design roadways address certain age-related changes in physical ability and typical accident scenarios involving older drivers. Freeways are therefore important to the safety and mobility of aging motorists. Yet there is the widespread belief that older drivers as a group avoid freeways. The problem of freeway aversion among older motorists is considered. Existing data are reviewed to determine the extent to whichelderly drivers avoid freeways, and new data from focus group discussions are presented that reveal some of the features of freeway driving that older motorists find particularly troublesome. Despite an extensive search of the literature, review of travel data bases, andcontacts with many experts and organizations, no objective data on the freeway travel of older drivers were uncovered, and widespread freeway avoidance among older drivers could be neither supported nor refuted. There was evidence, however, that freeway use among the elderly may be increasing and that older drivers generally view themselves as competent drivers on freeways. These findings were supportedand expanded by the focus group discussions, which included 65 participants aged 65 to 88. The groups revealed specific difficulties faced in freeway use, including large trucks, traffic speed variance, rudeness of others, signs, merging and weaving lanes, and personal safety. Possible countermeasures to foster greater freeway use were discussed. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1325, Highway safety: older drivers, seat belts, alcohol, motorcycles, and pedestrians 1991
Samenvatting