Citation

Tasca L. Transp. Res. Rec. 1996; 1550: 73-80.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.3141/1550-10

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario conducted a pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of a group education and information session for drivers aged 80 and over. Questionnaires on older drivers' selfawareness of risk were completed by 1,163 drivers aged 79 and over. The questionnaire asked several rudimentary questions about self-reported exposure and crash involvement. Answers to these questions are used to estimate the amount of driving and the frequency of crash involvement for very old drivers. The respondents' self-reports of the distance and days driven during the previous week and the number of crashes within the past 5 years are cross-classified by gender, age, season, examination center location, household size, self-reported medical condition, and self-reported medication use. The best predictors of self-reported distance driven during the previous week are gender, age, and the location of the driver examination center (the latter variable is a proxy for geographic location). The best predictors of self-reported crash involvement during the previous 5 years are the presence or absence of a self-reported medical condition and two variables used as proxies for the amount of driving. The results of a logistic regression analysis indicate that drivers reporting both a current medical condition and more driving exposure have a substantially higher crash risk. However, important limitations stem from the use of self-report data and the absence of data on the onset of a medical condition. These results, therefore, are tentative at best.

Keywords: Elder drivers

Language: en