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).