Review by Nicole Reaves
Psy. 459--Fall 2001--G15
Instructor, Dr. Leon James
As technology advances, people are living longer. Because of this, there are more elderly drivers on the road today than ever before. This book offers us a chance to look at some of the situations that the elderly are confronted with when it comes to driving and how they deal with these situations. As the number of elderly drivers increases, so does our responsibility to make sure that we are aware of the problems they face and what solutions we can offer.
The author of this book offers a wide array of information from when elderly people drive to where they drive. He compiled his information from interviews with elderly drivers and divided the drivers into three different age groups. They are as follows: 55-64; 65-74; and 75+. All of this information is described using transcripts from interviews and then compiled into many different tables according to age group. In reading this book I had a chance to better understand the thoughts that elderly drivers have in regards to their driving capabilities. It isn't clear if the drivers take certain precautions because they are cognitively aware of their innabilities to drive in certain situations because of limitations due to being elderly or if they simply prefer not to drive at those times. Either way, it is important to know that elderly drivers to take precautions to avoid what they believe to be unsafe driving conditions. For example, elderly driver were less likely to drive under conditions of bad weather. They also spent less time driving during peak driving hours. The most likely reason for this is because of retirement. Once someone retires, they don't have to worry about communting back and forth to work and therefore tend to not be on the road during this time. I found the information about the accidents involving elderly drivers very useful in helping to identify needs of the elderly.
I found it interesting that over half of those interviewed believed the other driver was at fault for the accident. "Over half of the interviewees considered the other driver to have deviated from expected driving behavior...However if, according to some elderly drivers, the other drivers do not compensate for the conditions, the driving circumstances can easily lead to crashes. In many of the statements by the interviewees they admitted to not following the rules, but still ultimately blamed the other driver because they should have compensated to avoid an accident. Therefore, the elderly drivers still blamed the other driver. Only a small amount of elderly drivers admit to the accident as being their fault. Only about 15 percent of elderly drivers fall into this category. These are the drivers that admit to having problems with their thinking, vision, or other health-related problems. It surprised me at how few people were willing to admit that their own physical abilities played a role in causing the accident.
As this book pointed out, elderly drivers do experience various physical problems as they get older. It is important that these drivers understand how important it is to talk with a physician regularly. They need to be made aware of how their health may impact their driving. They also need to know if their medication will cause any problems with their driving. Many suggestions have been offered and some followed through on to make driving safer for the elderly. For example, many road signs have been made larger and easier for the elderly to read. I think it is important, however, that people stay up to date on driving rules. According to the text, most elderly drivers depend on the media as their primary source of information. I agree with Dr. James that a driving circle would be a great way to keep people informed of changes regarding driving. It would also allow drivers the opportunity to share with others the problems they face regarding driving. The driving circle could be helpful in offering solutions to many of these problems.
I think the author did a great job presenting the information that he had gathered for this book. The large amount of tables were very helpful in looking at the differences as people age. I was amazed at some of the numbers. For example, I knew that females live longer than males. Therefore, I would have guessed that the number of female drivers would have increased over males as they got older. However, this was not true. "While the proportion of males in the overall population decreases with older age groups due to greater longevity of women, most of the latter gender grew up in a society where driving was not a common activity for a woman." Therefore, female drivers still decreases with age. There was one area of the book that I found confusing. I had a hard time keeping track of which information came from which subject group. The author was getting the information for the book from interviews involving two different subject groups. When he was presenting information, I had a difficult time determining which group the information came from. The author does, however, do a much better job explaining in the appendix where he got the information. I think it would be easier to understand the book if the information in the appendix was offered in the same way but in the beginning of the book. This would help eleviate some confusion.
I think that educating people from the time they are small children is the key to making the roads safer for elderly drivers. It is also important that this education continues throughout the lifetime. Small children can begin by learning safety such as always wearing a seatbelt and riding quietly in the car so that you don't disturb the driver. As people get older, they can learn about what signs to look for to know that perhaps it isn't safe for you to be driving any longer. I think that educating people at an early age helps prepare them so that it isn't quite as devastating when they can no longer drive.