Driving Experiences, Crash Risk and Mobility amongst Older Female Drivers in Australia

This paper describes how older drivers are over-involved in serious injury and fatal crashes per licensed driver compared with younger drivers. The safe mobility of older female drivers is of particular concern because the fatality rate of this group is increasing more rapidly than that of older men and is likely to increase in the years ahead. Moreover, it seems that older women are more likely than older men to retire from driving prematurely, with the potential for compromised mobility. An understanding of the driving behaviors, risk factors and travel needs of this group is required to develop strategies to ensure their continued safe mobility. Using data from a self-administered survey of 673 older female drivers, and a case-control study of 48 crash-involved and 44 non crash-involved older female drivers, the impacts of driving experience, practices and confidence, functional performance and health-related factors were examined. The findings revealed a number of differences between driving experiences and functional performance of crash-involved drivers compared to non crash-involved drivers. The likelihood of being involved in a crash was associated with lower attention, cognitive and motor skills and presence of multiple medical conditions. Driving characteristics, such as being the main driver in the household are not highly confident of being a safe driver and experiencing difficulty in some driving situations were also associated with crash risk. There are obvious mobility benefits of continuing to drive, particularly for older female drivers, who, in the event of their partner being unable to drive, may be forced into principal driver status after years of reduced driving and therefore little up-to-date driving experience and confidence. This study has enhanced our understanding of ‘at risk’ older female drivers by identifying predictors of crash involvement and factors that may impact on their safe mobility. This information has led to further studies to develop educational and training packages aimed at improving driving experiences and driving practices.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transport Canada

  1000 Sherbrooke Street, West, P.O. Box 549
  Montreal, Quebec  Canada  H3A 2R3
• Authors:
  • Oxley, Jennifer
  • Charlton, Judith L
  • Fildes, Brian
  • Bohensky, Megan
  • Scully, James
  • Koppel, Sjaanie
• Conference:
  • 11th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons (TRANSED)
  • Location: Montreal , Canada
  • Date: 2007-6-18 to 2007-6-22
• Publication Date: 2007

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 8p
• Monograph Title: Transed 2007. Benchmarking, Evaluation and Vision for the Future

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged drivers; Driving cessation; Fatalities; Females; High risk drivers; Injury severity; Mobility; Travel behavior
• Identifier Terms: Transed
• Uncontrolled Terms: Crash risk
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01130273
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 19 2009 9:28AM