Submitted by Cedric Hughes on Mon, 10/15/2007 - 13:15
To recognize the contributions of seniors to development and to draw attention to the worldwide demographic phenomenon — the graying of the population, our “age of aging" — many countries have recognized October 1st as the “International Day of Older Persons”.
Observed since October 1st, 1991, this day also prompts consideration of the safety issues raised by the steadily growing number of seniors driving. According to the Canada Safety Council, while older drivers have more experience driving and tend to have fewer accidents than those in the other age groups, their crash rates for the number of kilometers they drive are amongst the highest of all the age groups. Current projections now that ‘baby boomers’ are reaching 65 years of age are for continuing dramatic increases in the number of seniors involved in fatal or injurious crashes.
Safe driving demands the complex coordination of sensory/perceptual, cognitive, and motor activities that naturally diminish with aging. Seniors diagnosed with visual problems like glaucoma, cataracts, or macular degeneration, or with hearing loss, epilepsy, diabetes, cardiovascular disease or arthritic problems affecting their flexibility and range of motion may pose a risk to themselves and to other road users in continuing to drive.
A 2004 Recommendation from the US National Transportation Safety Board notes that, “the extent of the overall impact of medically impaired drivers is not known because data are not available (except for data on alcohol-related accidents) on the number of licensed drivers with high-risk medical conditions or on the number of accidents in which a driver’s medical condition was a contributory factor.”
One often-cited statistic, however, is that those diagnosed with dementia who continue to drive are two to eight times more likely than others of their age to be involved in a crash. Dementia has many causes and forms and is the general term used to denote a progressive loss of mental capacity to carry out the normal activities of daily living. Reaction time, memory and problem solving abilities progressively decline.
Current Canadian and US motor vehicle and health safety legislation, recognizing the risk posed by medically impaired drivers requires either self-reporting, or mandatory or discretionary reporting by the driver’s doctor to the motor vehicle licensing authority. (In Canada, all provinces except Quebec, Nova Scotia and Alberta have mandatory reporting.) The licensing authority then determines continuing eligibility based on its own testing procedures. The legislation may or may not expressly protect the doctor from liability for good faith reporting.
Increasing use of these procedures and expectation of more medically impaired drivers is prompting renewed discussion, analysis and research on the following topics to create an effective and uniform system that protects public safety while being aware of the needs of individual drivers:
- the current state of knowledge regarding potentially impairing medical conditions.
- the adequacy of procedures for reporting medically impaired drivers.
- systems and procedures for licensure and oversight of drivers with high-risk medical conditions.
- programs to increase public awareness of oversight laws and procedures.
- rehabilitation and transportation options for medically impaired drivers.
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