By Dennis McCarthy

Programs to promote safe driving can help elders stay behind the wheel and on the road.

Due to the lack of acceptable alternatives to automobiles as the most accessible means of transportation in many parts of the United States, prolonging safe driving by elders is one way of ensuring continued mobility within the community. Methods of enabling safe driving can be divided into those geared toward the car or highway and those geared toward the driver:

Car-Oriented Safety

The American Automobile Association (AAA), in partnership with the University of Florida’s National Older Driver Research and Training Center, identified an array of potential driver needs stemming from aging-related changes in vision, cognition and function. The project then matched these needs to specific vehicle attributes. For example, older drivers whose stature was shrinking could look for a car with adjustable pedals that would enable them to reach the pedals without moving too closely to the steering-wheel airbag. On the basis of this research, AAA developed its “Smart Features for Older Drivers” resource (see sidebar).

Driver-Safety Training

In 2007, Richard A. Marottoli and his colleagues published the results of two studies designed to enhance the driving performance of older adults. In one study, drivers ages 70 and older received eight hours of classroom training based on AAA’s Driver Improvement Program, as well as two hours of on-road training. The participants improved their scores on both written tests and driving-performance evaluations when compared to a control group.

Marottoli’s second study demonstrated that a physical conditioning program enhanced participants’ driving performance; it was particularly effective for elders whose baseline driving scores were low. (See the sidebar for links to both studies.)

Self-Screening

Identifying potentially unsafe drivers is yet another way to improve older driver safety. However, many elders are hesitant to subject themselves to a driving assessment, which could result in forfeiture of their licenses. Self-screening has the potential to help individuals identify -- in the privacy of their own homes -- age-related changes affecting them and learn how these changes affect safe driving performance.

A few years ago, the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) produced the “Driving Decisions Workbook,” which contained pencil-and-paper exercises that provide feedback to the user on aging-related changes in vision, health, cognition and function related to driving. UMTRI recently released an updated, Web-based version of the self-screening tool titled “SAFER (Self-Awareness and Feedback for Responsible) Driving: The Enhanced Driving Decisions Workbook.”

“RoadWise Review,” developed by AAA, is another self-screening tool that older drivers can use to learn about how age-related and health-related changes affect safe driving. Available from AAA offices, this CD-ROM uses versions of validated tools that have been shown to be associated with reducing crash risk. “RoadWise Review” provides feedback based on the user’s performance on measures of eight functional abilities, including flexibility, strength and mobility, vision, visual search and processing, and memory.

Dennis McCarthy is an assistant professor in the Occupational Therapy Department of Florida International University in Miami; he formerly served as codirector of the National Older Driver Research and Training Center at the University of Florida, Miami.

Copyright © 2009 American Society on Aging; all rights reserved. This article may not be duplicated or distributed in any form without written permission from the publisher: American Society on Aging, 71 Stevenson St., Suite 1450, San Francisco, CA 94105-2938; e-mail: permissions@asaging.org.