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DOT HS 808 853 April 1999 SAFE MOBILITY FOR OLDER PEOPLE Notebook - A Research Product of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Model Driver Screening and Evaluation Program http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/olddrive/safe/index.htm **** Driving and the Physician: A (More) Modest Proposal Assessing a patient's ability to drive isa contentious problem for physicians. We have no training to assess driving ability and the evaluation frequently puts the doctor in an adversarial role. The extremely interesting and educational articles in this issue make clear both how much is known about driving safety in medically affected and older populations and how much more there is to learn. I think it is perhaps a shock to the physician-parent to learn that the only population at greater risk of motor vehicle accidents than the demented elderly is the male teenager. http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Clinical_Neurosciences/articles/jf42699.html **** An update on dementia and driving Although concerns over the possible impact of decline in functional ability in patients with dementia on driving were raised in 1967 [1], the first authorative paper on the subject came from Friedland in 1988 [2]. This paper, followed rapidly by several similar reports, emphasized the potential hazard posed by drivers with dementia to themselves and others. What have we learned over the intervening decade? http://www.alzheimer-insights.com/insights/vol5no2/vol5no2.htm **** Improving driving competence of older persons with visual fielddefects Abstract In the coming decades, the number of elderly drivers will increase rapidly. As the prevalence of visual disorders increases with age, for many of them ability requirements will become a limitation. Visual field defects (e.g. due to macular degeneration) are an important age-related visual impairment that may affect driving competence. As driving is often critical for autonomy and social integration (alternatives are less suited to older people's needs and abilities) there is a social need for techniques that can help impaired older drivers continue to drive safely. Training to compensate for or improve lost visual function could be an important means to achieve this. http://cornelis.med.rug.nl/projects/PN1996.html **** Licensing Older Drivers--Part I The number of older drivers will grow an estimated two-thirds by 2030. Reflecting this trend, drivers over 85 years of age increased their use of private automobiles compared with other modes of transportation by more than 10 percent from 1977 to 1983. The per-mile crash rate for this group is nearly as high as the rate for teenagers; thus, according to A. James McKnight of the National Public Services Research Institute, an increase in miles driven by seniors "presents an obvious threat to the safety of the motoring public." http://www.usroads.com/journals/rej/9703/re970302.htm **** Licensing Older Drivers--Part II The second section of the July 1994 Transportation Research Board Circular Number 429: The Licensing of Older Drivers deals with corrective processes; the four topics covered in four separate papers are: License Restriction, Rehabilitation, Education, Counseling, and Alternative Transportation, and Training. http://www.usroads.com/journals/rej/9703/re970303.htm **** Licensing Older Drivers--Part III This is the final article in a three-part series covering the July 1994 Transportation Research Board's Circular Number 429: The Licensing of Older Drivers. reviews four papers on the support processes necessary to carry out screening and correction. The topics covered are: Selection and Training of Licensing Personnel; Identification and Referral of Deficient Drivers by Enforcement Personnel; Physician Reporting; and Functioning of Medical Advisory Boards. http://www.usroads.com/journals/rej/9703/re970304.htm **** Driving Fact Sheet 27 Driving in the elderly Driving and Parkinsons Driving less or not at all http://www.parkinsons.org.au/document/factsheets/fact_sheet_27.php3 **** OKLAHOMA REGULATIONS: SUBCHAPTER 5. MEDICAL ASPECTS 595:10-5-1. Purpose To operate a motor vehicle, a driver must possess certain physical and mental abilities. The first and primary purpose and intent of the Department of Public Safety is to license new applicants and to renew driver licenses of persons with these abilities but, when necessary, to restrict, deny, cancel, or disqualify the driving privilege of those applicants or licensees who present an unwarranted risk or do not meet the minimum standards. http://w3.uokhsc.edu/neuro/division/cope/drv_ok.htm **** [log in to unmask]