00489614

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Although older people drive less than younger people, they have more accidents per mile traveled than younger adults who are over the age of 25. Much of this increased risk is directly attributable to changes in physical and cognitive abilities that lead to certain characteristic errors of judgment or failures of perception. The special needs of older people and the special risks they face have not yet received much attention in the design of motor vehicles, highway environments, or licensing systems. However, as older adults are projected to account for an increasing share of the population well into the next century, mitigating these risks becomes all the more important. This paper reviews research bearing on one strategy for reducing these risks, namely, providing older consumers with better information about their special needs and in particular with information about vehicular features that should improve safety. The potential of consumer information to alter older people's vehicle purchase behavior is examined, drawing from literature on consumer information processing and decision making, mass communication, persuasion and attitude change, and the characteristics of older adults as learners and consumers, as well as on the results of a focused survey of existing programs aimed at reaching older people as consumers or motor vehicle drivers. The main conclusions of this review are that: (a) very little of the information now directed at consumers about automobiles focuses specially on safety features; (b) almost none of the safety-related information that does appear is directed at the special needs of older drivers; (c) such information if disseminated widely and if suitably packaged, would very likely increase older drivers' awareness of these safety issues and of the fact that sound vehicle design affords protection; and (d) if such information were incorporated in driver retraining programs or otherwise effectively disseminated, it might well change some consumers' behavior in purchasing new automobiles or safety equipment for retrofitting a currently owned automobile.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Board Special Report No. 218, Transportation in an Aging Society: Improving Mobility and Safety for Older Persons, Volume 2 - Technical Papers.

pp 134-157

1988

Transportation Research Board Special Report

0-309-04664-5

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References (42)

Aged drivers; Attitudes; Automobiles; Awareness; Behavior; Consumers; Crash rates; Decision making; Hazards; Information dissemination; Mass media; Purchasing; Retrofitting; Risk assessment; Safety; Safety equipment; Traffic mitigation; Vehicle safety

Mitigation; Safety features

Data and Information Technology; Freight Transportation; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Nov 30 1989 12:00AM

• CRASH PROTECTION FOR OLDER PERSONS
• DRIVER AND PEDESTRIAN TRAINING
• HEADLAMP PERFORMANCE FACTORS AFFECTING THE VISIBILITY OF OLDER DRIVERS IN NIGHT DRIVING
• POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENTS IN ROADWAY DELINEATION FOR OLDER DRIVERS
• RENEWAL LICENSING OF OLDER DRIVERS
• SIGN LEGIBILITY AND CONSPICUITY
• SIGNIFICANCE OF MOBILITY FOR THE WELL-BEING OF THE ELDERLY
• THE MOBILITY NEEDS OF THE ELDERLY
• THE SAFETY OF OLDER PERSONS AT INTERSECTIONS
• VISION ASSESSMENT TECHNOLOGY AND SCREENING OLDER DRIVERS: PAST PRACTICES AND EMERGING TECHNIQUES
• VISION SCREENING FOR DRIVER LICENSURE