Determinants of Older Driver Safety from a Socioecological Perspective

This article reports on a cross-sectional study that used an integrate socioecological approach to investigate multiple system characteristics, such as epidemiologic, environment, and policy, as they impact older driver safety. The authors used a public health model and the 2003 General Estimates System (GES) database to determine main risk factors and their measures of association in the presence or absence of injury among older adults involved in motor vehicle accidents. The 2003 GES database from the U.S. Department of Transportation, is a nationally representative probability sample that included 6.4 million police-reported crashes that resulted in injury, fatality, or major property damage. Of these, 10,421 motor vehicle crashes involved people 65 years and older; after various exclusions, the authors used 7,847 crashes for their analysis. Variables studied include age, gender, alcohol use, travel speed, visual circumstance, physical impairment, type of highway, construction, interchanges, traffic control, road surface condition, weather conditions, hour of crash, day of the week, month of the year, vehicle factors, precrash events, and the presence of an airbag. Age, gender, and physical impairments were significant predictors of motor vehicle injuries. While weather conditions yielded no significant differences in crash-related injuries, roads without traffic control devices yielded a lesser risk of crash-related injuries. Month of the year showed no significance, but 2 days of the week (Monday and Friday) showed a reduced risk for crash-related injuries. The authors discuss the possibilities of enhancing environmental safety as an a different strategy for preventing injuries and saving lives. For example, encouraging the use of alternate ways with fewer intersections or junctions is not only acceptable but also practical, and perhaps even cost-effective. The authors conclude that the socioecological model elucidated the importance of environment-level and vehicle-level factors as significant determinants of older driver safety.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/08827524
• Authors:
  • Awadzi, Kezia
  • Classen, Sherrilene
  • Garvan, Cynthia
  • Komaragiri, Vijay
• Publication Date: 2006-1

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 36-44
• Serial:
  • Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation
  • Volume: 22
  • Issue Number: 1
  • ISSN: 0882-7524

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged; Aged drivers; Air bags; Alcohol use; Behavior modification; Crash injuries; Gender; Highway safety; Logistic regression analysis; Risk assessment; Sociology; Speed; Traffic control devices; Travel behavior
• Identifier Terms: General Estimates System
• Uncontrolled Terms: Age factors; Road conditions
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I21: Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01045322
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 30 2007 7:48AM