How Do Older and Younger Drivers Differ?

The needs of older drivers differ from those of younger drivers. The differences can be seen in the underlying habits and characteristics of older adults with respect to travel, such as:

• Travel time (average number of miles driven annually, number of trips per day)
• Travel preferences (mode of transportation, time of day for travel, difficulty of traffic situations)
• Number of licensed drivers
• Safe driving practices (awareness of one's limitations as a driver, safety-belt use)

Travel Time

Drivers ages 65 and older spend much less time driving or traveling than younger drivers.

These differences can be attributed to the fact that older people typically are retired and no longer travel to work. In addition, as some drivers age and feel less comfortable on the road, they may curtail their own driving.

Travel Preferences

Mode of Travel

One major similarity between younger and older adults is their dominant preference for traveling by car. Approximately 90 percent of all adults use cars for their daily trips over any other mode of transportation.⁴ This underscores the need for periodic road-safety education and more accurate assessments of driving ability at all ages.

The preference among all drivers for their cars also raises the question, "If we dislike using public transportation at younger ages, then how can we expect older adults to replace their cars with public transit?" Communities where older adults use public transit frequently have successfully promoted this mode of travel as a convenience for people of all ages, and people who felt comfortable using public transit at younger ages continue to do so as they get older. New York City, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco all have effective public transportation systems. Yet even in these communities, older drivers who participated in focus groups said that giving up their cars would require sacrificing their quality of life.⁵

Driving Times

Older adults prefer to drive during daylight hours and avoid driving in poor traffic conditions, such as:

• At night
• In heavy traffic (during rush hour)
• During bad weather

City Streets vs. Freeway Use

A study of older California drivers in the 1980s showed that driving on city streets was more likely to result in a crash than driving on the freeway. Crash rates per vehicle mile traveled may be higher for older drivers because they drive more on city streets than on the freeway.⁶

Number of Licensed Drivers

It is estimated that by the year 2020, more than 15 percent of drivers will be older than 65⁷-an estimated 50 million people.⁸ Older drivers will be a greater proportion of all drivers because of the increase in the number of older persons and because the U.S. population as a whole is getting older.⁹

The following chart outlines the differences in the number of older and younger drivers.

Percentage of Americans with Drivers Licenses

The differences in the percentage of drivers between men and women over 65 may be attributed to the following reasons:

• Compared to younger women, women from older generations were socialized to let men drive and may have chosen to rely on their husbands or male family members instead of obtaining or renewing their licenses
• Older women stop driving at earlier ages than older men, and may choose not to renew their licenses
• More older men than older women own cars
• More women than men live below poverty and may not have money for routine car maintenance

Safe Driving Practices

Awareness of One's Limitations as a Driver

The literature on older drivers has shown consistently that they adjust their driving to their capabilities and avoid driving in situations that may be hazardous because of their limitations.¹⁰ Older drivers commonly make the following accommodations to their driving habits:¹¹

• They reduce exposure to driving hazards by driving less or driving during daytime hours with minimal traffic
• They avoid driving in poor conditions (darkness, heavy traffic, bad weather)
• They are less likely to drink and drive
• They drive more slowly
• They maintain longer distances between themselves and vehicles ahead
• They are less likely to smoke or adjust the radio while driving
• They often drive "as a couple" - the passenger may navigate, read signs, assist in hazard detection and remind the driver of tasks

Older drivers also perceive the risk of crashes or hazards to be greater, especially at intersections or when merging onto or exiting the freeway.¹²

Safety-belt Use

In the Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more older drivers reported wearing safety belts all the time than any other age group.¹³ Surveys of people in their cars showed that, in fact, older drivers wear their safety belts more often than any other age group.¹⁴

However, in studies of crashes where the driver was not wearing a safety belt, older drivers were far more likely than any other age group to die as a result of the crash.¹⁵ This is especially true of older drivers ages 70-74 and above age 85.¹⁶

Therefore, older drivers who do not wear safety belts stand to benefit significantly from vehicle modifications featuring safety belts and educational sessions emphasizing how important it is to wear them, how to wear them comfortably, and how to make them more adjustable to fit their needs.

The top reasons cited by older drivers for wearing safety belts are (in order of importance):¹⁷

• "To avoid serious injury"
• "It's a habit"
• "It's the law"
• "Wanting to set a good example for others"
• "Don't want to get a ticket"

Drivers between ages 21 and 64 reported similar reasons for wearing their safety belts.

Older drivers who reported not wearing a safety belt listed the following reasons (in order of importance):¹⁸

• "I'm only driving a short distance"
• "I forgot to put it on"
• "I'm in a rush"
• "The seatbelt is uncomfortable"

Other Factors

The Sympathy Factor

Police officers may refer drivers of all ages who have received tickets for speeding or other traffic violations to traffic school for continuing education, or to the department of motor vehicles (DMV) for re-evaluation. However, focus groups with aging-service providers suggest that elders generate more sympathy from police or the DMV than other drivers, and that at times this sympathy gets in the way of any definitive action being taken with an older driver who needs assistance.¹⁹

Age-related Conditions

A major source of differences in driving and the risk and consequences of crashing among older and younger age groups is the prevalence of physical, cognitive and sensory conditions that increase with aging. The next sections describe these conditions and how they affect driving in more detail.

² Rosenbloom, S. (1997) "Trends in women's travel patterns." Chapter 2 in Women's Travel Issues: Proceedings from the Second National Conference, October 1996 18. U.S. Dept. of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Highway Information Management, HPM-40. No. FHWA-PL-97-024.

³ Ibid.

⁴ Ibid., p. 17.

⁵ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (April 1999) Safe Mobility for Older People Notebook 3-29. U.S. Dept. of Transportation. No. DOT HS 808 853. Retrieved from NHTSA on the World Wide Web: www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/olddrive/safe/01c03.htm.

⁶ Hu, P.S, Jones, D.W., Reuscher, T., Schmoyer, Jr., R.S., and Truett, L.F. (Oct. 2000) Projecting Fatalities in Crashes Involving Older Drivers, 2000-2025 8-10. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, The Center for Transportation Analysis. Report No. ORNL-6963. Retrieved from The Center for Transportation Analysis on the World Wide Web: www-cta.ornl.gov/cta/Publications/pdf/ORNL-6963.pdf.

⁷ Carr, D. (Jan. 1, 2000) "The older adult driver." American Family Physician 61:141-46, 148.

⁸ Higgins, K. (2001) "Vision Impairment and the Older Driver." Aging and Vision 13:1. Retrieved from Lighthouse International on the World Wide Web: www.lighthouse.org/aging&vision/agingvision_summer2001_impairment.htm.

⁹ TCRP Report 82, p. 44.

¹⁰ Meyer, J., and Coughlin, J. (Oct. 2001) "Older drivers and new in-vehicle technologies; promises and challenges" 3. Monograph. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Transportation Studies AgeLab.

¹¹ NHTSA (Aug. 2001) "Adaptive Strategies." Older Road User Research Plan. U.S. Dept. of Transportation. No. DOT HA 809 322. Retrieved from NHTSA on the World Wide Web: www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/olddrive/OlderRoad/appendix.htm.

¹² Ibid.

¹³ NHTSA (Mar. 2000) "Seat Belt Use." Table 4: Driver seatbelt use by demographic and other characteristics. Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey: Volume 2. Seat Belt Report. U.S. Dept. of Transportation. No. DOT HS 809 051. Retrieved from NHTSA on the World Wide Web: www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/SafetySurvey/Chapter1.html.

¹⁴ Ibid. Table 9: Revised reported seatbelt use compared to observed use by driver.

¹⁵ Harris, Joan, NHTSA, (March 2003) Presentation at the American Society on Aging/National Council on Aging Joint Conference, Chicago, IL.

¹⁶ Hu, et al., pp. 8-9.

¹⁷ NHTSA (Mar. 2000) "Reasons for Seat Belt Use and Non-Use." Table 17: Driver reasons for seat belt use by sex and age. Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey: Volume 2. Seat Belt Report. U.S. Dept. of Transportation. No. DOT HS 809 051. Retrieved from NHTSA on the World Wide Web: www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/SafetySurvey/Chapter2.html.

¹⁸ Ibid. Table 23: Driver reasons for non-use of seat belts by sex and age.

¹⁹ American Society on Aging (Feb. 19, 2003) Enhancing Older Driver Wellness and Safety: Building a Community Education Toolkit. Focus Group Report.