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Suggested Citation:"BREAKOUT SESSION: Older Women s Safe Mobility." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Women’s Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 4th International Conference, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22901.
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Suggested Citation:"BREAKOUT SESSION: Older Women s Safe Mobility." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Women’s Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 4th International Conference, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22901.
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Suggested Citation:"BREAKOUT SESSION: Older Women s Safe Mobility." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Women’s Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 4th International Conference, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22901.
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Page 27

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25 BReAKOuT SeSSION Older Women’s Safe Mobility Martin Wachs, RAND Corporation, Presiding Nancy McGuckin, Consultant Sherrilene Classen, University of Florida Christopher Mitchell (for John eberhard), United Kingdom Heather Rothenberg, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Discussant This session focused on older women’s safe mobil-ity and included presentations on older women as passengers, the use of traffic violation data to identify driver errors made by older women who are involved in crashes, and extending the driving experi- ence of older women. driving miss daisy: older women as passengers Nancy McGuckin, Heather Contrino, Hikari (Yuki) Nakamoto, and Adella Santos The study explored data from the 2009 National House- hold Travel Survey (NHTS) to identify travel patterns of older women. The results found a “perfect storm” on the horizon. The combination of increased suburban- ization, the aging of the large baby boom generation, and the increase in the number of women 65 years of age and older presents a planning challenge of immense proportions. Previous research on women’s driving behavior has found older women drive fewer miles, make shorter trips, and are more likely to cease driving when older. This research focuses on older women, both those who can drive and those who cannot, as passengers in vehicles. Because of longevity, efficacy issues, cultural norms, disability, and poverty, the number of women who cease driving is larger than the number of men. For every decade after the age of 65, the percentage of men and women who cease driving doubles, but women are always twice as likely to cease driving as men of the same age. Alto- gether, 75% of nondrivers over the age of 65 are women, and of nondriving women, 63% have given up driving, while the remainder never drove. In comparison, 90% of nondriving men over the age of 65 used to drive. Older women are a very diverse group. using race and ethnicity categories shows great variation in household size, income distribution, and access to transit for driving and nondriving older women. About half of nondriving women ages 65 and older do not travel at all. About half of those who do not drive would like to get out more. This is the first national measure of unmet mobil- ity needs that begs for further exploration. Importantly, the researchers found that when couples of all ages travel together, the man drives eight out of 10 times. This lack of driving during marriage could affect the efficacy women feel in driving as they age and leave them unprepared for assuming driving responsibilities when their husbands can no longer drive or pass away. In addition, nondriving women are heavily dependent on nonhousehold members for rides. Suggested solutions to the growing problem of safe mobility for older women include • Planning for nondrivers as part of the built envi- ronment; • Providing transport to nondriving elders as part of high school community service hours; • Expanding taxi voucher systems to help provide door-to-door service; • Providing special demand-response 24-hour senior shuttles in suburban communities; and

26 WOMeN’S ISSueS IN TRANSPORTATION, vOluMe 1 • Extending driving years through in-vehicle and intelligent transportation system technology. TraffiC violaTions versus driving errors: impliCaTions for older female drivers Sherrilene Classen, Orit Shechtman, Yongsung Joo, Kezia D. Awadzi, and Desiree Lanford The authors point out that although most studies of older drivers are gender neutral, existing literature illustrates significant gender differences. Crash rates demonstrate a higher risk of injuries and fatalities in people age 65 and older. Previous research has shown that rates for motor- vehicle-related crashes are twice as high for older men as for older women, but that the proportion of fatalities is higher for older women. The purpose of this study is to examine driving errors related to crash experience and identify potentially effective prevention strategies. Data were drawn from the 2005 Florida Traffic Crash Records Database (N = 5,345 older drivers). The study included 2,445 (45.7%) women drivers with a mean age of 76.08. The women drivers committed sig- nificantly more failure to yield violations, failure to obey required traffic controls, and speed-related violations. The findings show older female drivers are at a greater risk for injuries from crash-related violations and driving errors compared with older male drivers. Older female drivers drive less, outlive male counterparts, and often resume driving without the necessary skill or practice. Additional research is needed to identify the causes of women’s driving errors and consequent injuries. Atten- tion, perception, physical frailty, and cultural context are candidate research variables. Moreover, older women drivers need access to information on vehicle safety rat- ings, vehicles with smart features, person-vehicle fit to optimize seating comfort, in-vehicle technologies, in- vehicle emergency systems, and other technologies that can contribute to safe mobility. older women’s safe mobiliTy: exTending The amounT women drive Christopher Mitchell, presenting on behalf of John W. Eberhard Women have lower fatality rates per licensed driver or popu- lation than men over the past decade; yet women age 65 and older reduce or cease driving earlier than men. They travel more frequently as passengers than drivers and are less likely to hold a driver’s license; those who do drive travel fewer miles. Women begin reducing their number of trips at age 50. Men also reduce their driving, but not until they reach about age 70. Women who do not drive stay home more, are more dependent, are more likely to enter a nursing home, tend to be depressed, and have a lower quality of life. encouraging women to continue driving will enable them to have safer mobility later in life, could reduce the societal burden of providing for their mobility needs, and could pos- sibly extend their lives. Keeping older women driving enables them to age in place, be less of a family burden, be less depen- dent on expensive specialized transportation services, and be able to work later in life if they choose. Also, older women who do not drive or have reduced their driving are an under- utilized resource because they are unable to volunteer or pro- vide mobility for others who are unable to drive. According to the author, a new approach is needed to encourage older women to drive more and longer. Some tools already exist, such as driver assessments, driver training, and informational programs. These tools can be modified to include a new approach to change older women’s thinking. Women need to understand the importance of continued driving as well as when and whether to drive. The approach should provide offices on aging, occupational therapists, physicians, social workers, older women, and others the information and tools needed to keep older women safely on the road. disCussanT Heather Rothenberg For the most part, the findings of these papers are well known among the research community. The key ques- tion seems to be: How do we bridge the gap between the research and policy making at the national or state level? The discussion identified several possibilities to address this and other issues: • Educate the media. Inform them that older driv- ers may drive differently but not necessarily in an unsafe manner. Older drivers pose the least danger to other road users. • Examine European models for addressing these issues, for example, more affordable older driver assess- ments, which have reduced injuries in some places by half. • Insist government agencies pay attention to older women’s needs and develop policies to help people drive longer and address their transport needs when they can no longer drive. • Improve vehicle technology to protect older driv- ers, especially older women drivers. • Develop a screening mechanism that older women can use to assess their driving skills without fear of hav- ing their driver’s license revoked. • Make medically at-risk drivers the target rather than older drivers.

• Make taxis more available and affordable. • Build transportation costs into retirement planning. TopiCs for furTher researCh Several areas of further research were suggested during the presentations and discussions, such as developing • A better self-test for analyzing one’s own ability to drive safely; • A deeper understanding of why women reduce and cease driving; • Better methods for helping older women continue to drive safely; • Better models for providing mobility when one can no longer drive; and, in general, • Better methods for organizing what we know and educating researchers, the public, and elected officials to create a well-informed community to address the mobil- ity and safety issues of older women. 27OlDeR WOMeN’S SAFe MOBIlITY

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Women’s Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 4th International Conference, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers Get This Book
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TRB’s Conference Proceedings 46: Women’s Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 4th International Conference, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers includes an overview of the October 2009 conference and six commissioned resource papers, including the two keynote presentations.

Women’s Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 4th International Conference, Volume 2: Technical Papers includes 27 full peer-reviewed papers that were presented at the October 2009 conference. The conference highlighted the latest research on changing demographics that affect transportation planning, programming, and policy making, as well as the latest research on crash and injury prevention for different segments of the female population. Special attention was given to pregnant and elderly transportation users, efforts to better address and increase women’s personal security when using various modes of transportation, and the impacts of extreme events such as hurricanes and earthquakes on women’s mobility and that of those for whom they are responsible.

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