Crash Risk of Older Female Drivers

Two studies that aimed to address the crash risk of older female drivers and to determine the contributory factors are described in this report. The first study used existing data from a recent survey of 673 current older female drivers in the ACT. Logistic regression analysis was used to model the 'at-risk' older female driver using crash involvement in the last five years as the dependent variable and taking correlations between other variables into account. The second case-control study of 48 crash-involved and 44 non crash-involved older female current drivers in the ACT examined in detail the effect of functional performance, health factors and driving factors on crash risk. Functional performance was examined using four validated tests of skills that are likely to be important in driving such as visual processing, memory and search, scanning strategies, attention span, divided and selective attention, problem-solving, and motor performance. Recommendations for countermeasures were made and include behaviour and educational resources, improvements to licensing procedures, and improvements to road design and system operation. (a)

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