The Ageing Population, Older Driver Crash Risk and Injury Outcomes

It is well known that the older driver population is increasing. It is predicted over the next three decades, fatal crashes involving older drivers could be as much as three times greater than at present without active intervention.

Currently, the risk of being injured in a crash increases substantially over the age of 65 years and those over the age of 75 years have the highest injury rates per kilometre driven of any age group. This is largely due to the increased frailty of older drivers. The ability to recover from injuries is also dramatically reduced, while the likelihood of complications is significantly increased in older persons.

 
Focus Groups: Older Driver Vehicle Safety Awareness

Over two hundred participants took part in the study designed to explore the factors that influence older people in purchasing a vehicle and their knowledge of vehicle safety features. Three focus groups were held in regional Victoria and three in metropolitan Melbourne.

Two types of data were collected from the focus groups: descriptive qualitative data generated during group discussions and written quantitative data from a questionnaire distributed at sessions to ascertain participants’ knowledge of specific safety features of vehicles.
 

Analyses of focus group responses revealed older people have a preference for recent model vehicles when faced with a decision to replace their current vehicle. Features that were important to participants when purchasing a vehicle were generally those that improved the comfort or the ease of driving. Only a minority nominated specific safety features such as airbags and ABS brakes.

Participants were asked to nominate which of five factors is most important when purchasing a vehicle. The greatest proportion of participants (around 40%) rated the handling of the vehicle as the single most important factor. Vehicle safety was reported as the most important factor by approximately 30%, while around 20% indicated that fuel economy would most influence their decisions.

Vehicle appearance and make or models were both nominated by fewer than 10% of participants.

A clear distinction was apparent between male and female participants in their familiarity with almost all safety features. More female participants reported being unfamiliar with safety items than males and were particularly unfamiliar with technical aspects of safety features.

Vehicle size and cruise control were more likely to be nominated as positive safety features by country participants than metropolitan participants.

The features most commonly nominated by participants as top 5 safety features were: driver's visibility, handling of the vehicle, ABS brakes, airbags, seat belt pre-tensioners (which were often confused with the standard locking mechanisms on seat belts) and power steering.

Limited understanding and misconceptions about specific safety features were evident amongst some participants. Two areas of misinformation were airbags and vehicle structure, particularly relating to modern crumple zone design.
 

Conclusions  

The findings of this study suggest that features related to comfort and ease of driving were important to older drivers, as was vehicle handling. Safety features that improve occupant protection in a crash were poorly understood and misconceptions about features such as airbags were common.

These results indicate a need to address gaps in knowledge and misconceptions and to encourage older drivers to purchase vehicles that have the potential to reduce the frequency and severity of injury outcomes.

There is little doubt that with changing demographics the number of older drivers involved in road crashes will increase substantially in the years ahead. This necessitates pro-active strategies and research initiatives aimed at reducing injury among this growing population group.

A number of initiatives are warranted:
• Monitor the changing needs and patterns of mobility of the ageing baby boom cohort over the coming years;
• Extend understanding of the relationship between vehicle safety design features and injury outcomes using in-depth investigations of crashes involving older adults;
• Determine the effectiveness of specific safety features and the development of new safety systems and ITS applications tailored to older drivers’ needs.
• Promote the importance of vehicle safety features to older people.
• Encourage vehicle manufacturers to consider the safety needs of older drivers when developing new cars.