New Older Driver Data Trends Upward

Changes reported in driving years, habits and medication use

By Bill McLauchlan

Mired in stop-and-go town traffic the other day, it struck me there weren’t too many young people behind the wheel in the cars around me. Was this my imagination? Simply a momentary anomaly or a sign of the times as the steady surge of baby boomer drivers begins to make itself evident?

It could be a combination of all of the above, but there’s a strong case to be made for the ‘silver tsunami’ effect. According to a new report from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety in the US, older drivers are extending their time behind the wheel compared to previous generations. For example, 84 percent of those 65 and older held a driver’s licence in 2010 compared with barely half in the early 1970s. Today, one in six drivers on the road are 65 or older and this new research shows they’re spending more time at the wheel, with travel patterns indicating about a 20 percent increase in trips and a 33 percent rise in distance traveled between 1990 and 2009.

        Though these AAA figures describe the trend south of the border it’s quite likely the situation on Canadian roads won’t be much different.

While upward trends indicate greater mobility for the silver tsunami, the Understanding Older Drivers: An Examination of Medical Conditions, Medication use and Travel Behaviours report reveals that 90 percent of older drivers also use prescription medications with two-thirds taking multiple medications.

Previous Foundation research has shown that combinations of medications, both prescription and over-the-counter, can result in an impairment in safe driving ability.

“This level of medications use does raise concerns, yet evidence indicates seniors are fairly cautious,” said AAA Foundation president and CEO Peter Kissinger. “In fact, these findings show that older drivers using medications are more likely to regulate their driving – reducing daily travel, avoiding driving at night or driving fewer days per week.”

There are also some interesting gender differences found in the report when it comes to medication use behind the wheel. Older women using medications are more likely to regulate their driving compared to men. Even without a medical condition, female drivers drive less than their male counterparts with a medical condition.
Other key highlights include:

• 25 percent of men and 18 percent of women are still working after age 65, meaning more than double the work-related commutes for drivers 65 and older compared to a couple of decades ago.
• 68 percent of drivers 85 or older report driving five or more days per week.
• Three-quarters of drivers 65 and older with a medical condition report reduced daily driving.
• Self-regulating behaviour, among those taking multiple medications or having a medical condition, declines with increasing income.

The Foundation’s study primarily analyzed the most recent data from two national databases: the 2009 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) and the 2011 National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS).

Can a Self-Cleaning Car be Just Around the Corner?

By Bill McLauchlan

Washing a car can be a chore … and a costly one at that if you choose to run it through the car wash whenever you fuel up at the gas pump.

Hand washing it can also be a chore for those in their middle and later years as decreasing flexibility, creaky knees and other age-related aches and pains begin to make their presence felt. Even if none of the above is a problem yet you might still have to contend with the after effects from sore, stiff muscles unaccustomed to the stretching, bending and stooping associated with washing away your car’s endless accumulation of dirt and road grime.

Either way, Nissan hopes to offer a helping hand. It’s currently testing an innovative nano-paint technology that repels dirt and which could make car washes obsolete.

Photo: Newspress

The automaker has begun testing a new paint technology that repels mud, rain and everyday dirt, meaning drivers may never have to clean their car again.

This intriguing possibility comes courtesy of a specially engineered paint that repels water and oils. This super-hydrophobic (water) and oleophobic (hydrocarbons) coating has been applied to a sub-compact Note by Nissan to create what it terms the world’s first self-cleaning car.

The company is the first automaker to utilize the technology, called Ultra-Ever Dry®, on automotive bodywork. By creating a protective layer of air between the paint and environment, it effectively stops standing water and road spray from creating dirty marks on the car’s surface. The paint’s super-hydrophobic properties also eliminate the formation of ice – a characteristic that would have been very welcome after last winter’s huge ice storm.

Photo: Newspress

To assess the real-world effectiveness of the paint, engineers at Nissan’s European Technical Centre will be testing the “self-cleaning” Note over the coming months. So far the coating has responded well to common use cases including rain, spray, frost, sleet and standing water. No word on its ability to shrug off an aerial bombardment from the odd seagull or a flock of Canada Geese.

At the moment there are no plans for the paint to be applied to the Note as a standard feature, but the company will continue to consider the technology as a future aftermarket option. It won’t be cheap, though. A gallon of the special paint presently runs about $500 US and it takes about two to three gallons to paint a typical mid-size car.