Characteristics of older drivers who adopt self-regulatory driving behaviours

This paper describes a survey of self-regulatory driving practices of 656 drivers aged 55 years and older. Types and prevalence of self-regulatory behaviours were examined and key characteristics of self-regulators were identified. Overall, the majority of drivers reported being very confident in potentially difficult driving situations and relatively few avoided these situations. The most commonly avoided situations were driving at night (25%), on wet nights (26%) and in busy traffic (22%). There was a strong association between drivers' avoidance of and confidence in specific driving situations (e.g. night driving) and ratings of relevant functional abilities (e.g. vision for night driving). Logistic regression modelling revealed that those most likely to adopt avoidance behaviour were female, 75 years and older, not the principal driver in the household, had been involved in a crash in the last 2 years, reported vision problems and had lower confidence ratings. Implications for promotion of safe driving practices are discussed. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.