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TR NEWS 264 SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 200920AARP offers an onlineDriver Safety program.Some research has found,however, that olderwomen responddifferently fromcomparable men to olderdriver training programs.85—but only one-fourth of comparable womendrivers—drove the vehicle in which they were riding.Self-Regulation and FeelingsAbout DrivingOlder people are not risk-takers—they recognize thatas they age, they may experience problems in driving,and they change their behavior in response. Butolder men and women exhibit substantial differencesin almost every aspect of self-regulation.Women and men find different kinds of situationsto be problematic. Women are far more likelyto find that driving situations have become difficultand to change their travel behavior; they are also farmore likely to say that the change in their travelbehavior has affected their mobility negatively. Themost common form of self-regulation among olderwomen is to cancel a trip when problems arise.Women drivers are substantially more likely tofind driving stressful and to express a lack of confidencein their driving abilities, even if they are objectivelygood drivers. This leads them to drive lessoften, which in turn reduces their confidence andincreases their levels of stress—to which theyrespond by driving even less.Paradoxically, driving less may have a negativeimpact on driving safety as well as mobility. Crashrates are related to the amount of driving. Whencrash data are controlled for level of exposure, mostresearchers find that the age effect in crash rates disappears.Crashes are overrepresented among peoplewho do not drive very much, regardless of age.This finding reinforces the dangers associatedwith women reducing their driving significantly.Although baby boomer women may drive morewhen younger, and therefore be more confident asdrivers when older, the Federal Highway Administrationhas predicted that if 2001 patterns continue,the mileage gap between older women and men willwiden over the next four decades (2).Response to Safety andEducational MessagesNHTSA found that women younger than 65responded differently to messages about drivingsafety than did comparable men; the study concludedthat younger women needed different safetymessages from those addressed to middle-agedwomen (3). Tuokko et al. concluded that educationalmaterials for older drivers had to be targeted differentlyfor women and men, because women weremore willing to change their behavior, more consistentin their attitudes toward regulations, and usedsafer driving practices (4).Some research has found that older womenrespond differently from comparable men to olderdriver training programs. A study of the AARP DriverSafety Program found that women participants weremore likely to report that their driving skills hadimproved (5). Rosenbloom found that 1 year afterparticipating in a variety of safety education programsin Tucson, Arizona, older women were more likely torespond that they did not engage in as much self-regulationas comparable men or as a control group ofwomen who did not participate in the programs (6).At a minimum, these findings suggest that thesafety messages and educational techniques currentlyin use may have different impacts on women andmen. But the findings also may suggest that olderdriver education programs may give competentwomen drivers a better idea of the strength of theircurrent skills.Driving CessationMost research shows that older women give up drivingvoluntarily at younger ages than comparable menand for less serious reasons. When older womencease to drive, they are much less likely than men tocite medical or health reasons. In a Tucson study,more than 90 percent of men, but only 46 percent ofwomen, who stopped driving during the studyreported the causes as serious medical or vision problems.Almost 18 percent of the women who stoppeddriving said that they “couldn’t deal with the stress.”None of the men gave that answer.Married people are more likely to stop drivingthan those who live alone—but the effect is far morepronounced among women, who constitute theoverwhelming number of unmarried older people.This suggests that older women who have a spousewho drives are more likely to cease driving.The long-term implications of this decision can betragic. In several studies, women who had ceaseddriving but subsequently lost their driving spouse todeath or disability expressed regret that they hadgiven up driving. Johnson found that older rural res-
idents who voluntarily stopped driving often had toresume because their social networks were not ableto meet their mobility needs (7).Driving cessation among older women is aresponse to a complicated set of factors, including alack of confidence and the stresses of driving. Evidenceis growing, however, that older women also arefar more responsive to criticism of their drivingskills—whether the criticism is valid or not—thanare comparable men. Older women may lack confidencein their driving because their spouse directlyor indirectly disparages their driving performance;several studies have reported many situations inwhich older women were discouraged from drivingby their partners (3, 8–10).Safety Statistics and TrendsOlder drivers consistently have lower fatal crash ratesper capita than those 21 to 64 years old. When thecrash rates are based on exposure, however—thatis, on the number of miles traveled—the crash riskincreases for older drivers. Those 85 years old andolder have the same crash rates per mile driven asthose 20 to 24 years old (11). These travel indicatorsalso reveal important differences between olderwomen and men.On a per capita basis per 100,000 of the population,older women were one-third as likely as oldermen to be involved in a fatal crash, according toupdated 2005 data (12). In 2005, older men were alarger component of fatalities in the age group of 65and older than in 1995. In contrast, between 1995and 2005, the absolute number of crash fatalitiesamong older women fell—often significantly—although the total population of women over age 65increased by almost 12 percent.Despite some positive trends in the data, olderwomen and men constituted a larger share of crashesthan they did of the U.S. population. In 2006, womenover 65 accounted for 13.6 percent of all women butrepresented 20.8 percent of all female crash fatalities—thehighest proportion of fatalities for any populationgroup.Ferguson and Braitman found that total crashinvolvement—whatever the outcome—and fatalcrash involvement move in opposite directions (13).On a per capita basis, the fatal crash rate increases aspeople age; however, at all ages, the rate of total crashinvolvement was lower for women than for men. In2003, almost 50 fatal crashes per 100,000 driversinvolved men who were 85 years old or older, butonly 20 involved comparable women.Controlling for exposure, or miles driven, however,fatal crash involvement for drivers rises sharplyafter age 70 for men and women, with little difference.By age 85, both men and women drivers hadthe highest rate of fatal crash involvement among alldrivers per 100 million miles traveled. Ferguson andBraitman found that total crash involvement per millionmiles traveled also rose after age 65, but far fasteramong men than among women (13). Althougholder women had fewer crashes per capita than oldermen, older women were far more likely to die in thecrashes in which they were involved.Research and Policy ImplicationsMost experts agree that developing a range of policiesand programs to improve the safety and themobility consequences of an aging society is necessary,by addressing the following:u The driving and pedestrian environment,including a focus on the driver, the vehicle, and theroad network;u The public transit network, including initiativesto improve the quality and to increase the quantity;to modify as appropriate the serviceprovided—encompassing new or less traditional serviceand better travel information, personal security,safety, and accessibility; and to improve the vehiclesand the training of drivers;u Alternative transportation systems, includingenhancements to the quality and the quantity of service,to the coordination between and amongproviders, and to dispatching programs, geographicinformation systems applications, driver training,vehicles, the effective use of volunteers, andexpanded use of voucher systems; andu Neighborhood design, including the developmentof intergenerational and elderly-friendly citiesthrough community design, land use regulations,traffic enforcement, enhancement of personal security,and education, as well as alternative housingoptions for aging-in-place populations, new communities,and formal and informal active adult retirementcommunities.Women make up amajority of transit andspecial transportationusers; suggestions forimprovements totransit and specialtransportation orparatransit alternativesmay address the needs ofwomen.TR NEWS 264 SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 200921
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