The Mature Driver: Safety and Mobility Issues Naomi G Rotter New Jersey Institute of Technology Claire McKnight City College of New York Presentation to: NJDOT January 19, 2001

OBJECTIVES To build a knowledge base regarding the extent to which aging drivers create a safety threat to themselves or others in New Jersey To collate, organize, and assess existing information about mature drivers driving behavior, including: their functional abilities, which disabilities significantly diminish their ability to drive, their ability to self- evaluate those abilities and voluntary restriction and cessation of driving among this group. To document and analyze the practices and experiences of DMVs in the United States

ACTIVITIES Task I. Literature Review –Product: Written report on the literature, summarizing the findings under the items above Task II. Archive search and data analysis –Product: A report summarizing the data, methodology, and findings of this task. Task III. Survey of DMVs –Product: A written report summarizing the practices by state with a summary of ideas and information determined to be the most useful to New Jersey. Task IV. Synthesis and Final Report

Useful URLs AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan: Drivers –A annotated listing of programs and publications pertinent to older drivers Oregon Older Driver Study er/OlderDriver.htm –A report of the Oregon Older Driver Advisory Committee

Selected State Policies New York State –Has not implemented renewal testing based on age –Does written and skills retest according to the following criteria: 1. All drivers who have had 3 accidents within 6 months; 2. Drivers under 25 or over 65 who have 3 accidents within 9 months; Drivers between 25 & 65 who have 3 accidents within 6-9 months maybe retested based on questionnaire answers –Office of Aging offers assistance for unsafe older drivers

Selected State Policies Pennsylvania –Mandatory physician reporting system -- Requires physicians to report any condition that could effect or limit patients’ ability to drive. Applies to all patients 15 and older. Receive about 40,000 reports a year About half are for persons over 45 72% of reported persons have impairments serious enough to warrant medical recall of licenses –Mature driver re-examination program -- Randomly selects 1,650 drivers 45 and older for a physical examination. This re-examination form must be completed to renew license. The exam consists of a vision test and medical questions to be completed by a physician

Selected State Policies Illinois –Eliminated mandatory renewal test for all drivers –Renewal cycle of 2 years for drivers nad 1 year over 87. –Eliminating road test for had no significant negative effect; More frequent renewal cycles did not yield a benefit

Selected State Policies Oregon –Recently completed a report of the Older Driver Advisory Committee –Reject chronological age as a basis for assessing risk –Recommend assessing fitness to drive by screening visual, cognitive and functional abilities

Ontario, Can. Senior Driver Renewal Program For drivers age 80 and older every two years they must: –Pay applicable licensing fee –Complete a vision test –Complete a knowledge test –Take part in a group education session –Some may be asked to take a road test

Tasmania Senior Driver Licenses All driver 65 and older need to renew license, no renewal fee Drivers will need to have a physician complete a medical questionnaire each year. The physician will report to Tasmanian Transport Division regarding fitness. Drivers 85 and over will take medical and driving test every year.

Suggested Analyses of Accident & Violation Data Using age and gender groupings –Collision location: (intersection; non-signal, signal, stop signs) –Type of road –Driver action –Lighting level –Visibility –Driver action

Some Suggested Analyses of Accident Data Using age and gender groupings –Collision location: (intersection; non- signal, signal, stop signs) –Type of road –Driver action –Lighting level –Contributing circumstance –Weather condition –Road characteristics –Sequence of events –Surface condition –Physical status –Visibility –Driver action

Some Suggested Analyses of Violation Data Using age and gender groupings for violations –Medical fitness reviews & suspensions –Operating at slow speeds, speeding –Improper operation: passing, staying right, use of divided highway, backing up, entrance –Failure to yield –Driving under the influence

Future tasks Analysis and interpretation of accident and violation data Survey of state DMVs regarding actual or planned programs for increasing safety of senior drivers Final report