Giving up driving is a senior’s nightmare – but smart help is here

When it comes to driving, what do young adults and seniors have in common? Both groups are more often at fault in vehicle accidents.

Younger drivers are more likely to drink drive, speed or engage in risky behaviour. Older driver crashes are often due to lack of awareness, faulty perception or onset of sudden illness.

This National Road Safety Week (14-21 May), we ask: can older drivers be safer drivers?

Driving is a complex task and driving ability can be affected by ageing in the following ways: 

• Diminished hearing and eyesight.

• Slower decision making.

• Slower reflexes and reduced agility.

• Reduced muscle strength and response.

• Chronic conditions requiring medications that affect reflexes and reaction times.

Older drivers who are aware of their age-related limits may reduce driving to familiar areas and short distances or give it up entirely. Some states and territories impose licensing limitations, which can lead to older drivers losing their licence as well as their mobility and wellbeing.

What if there were ways to make driving safer for older people, and other road users, by reducing some of the age-related risks of driving?

Newer model cars offer a mesmerising range of technology assistance that can improve driver safety.

With that in mind, researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) are evaluating whether these Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) help improve safety for older drivers.

The study included more than 1,300 National Seniors Australia (NSA) members and online subscribers aged 60 to 98 and investigated their use of 12 driver assistance technologies.

“There has been very little research into older people and advanced driver assistance systems, so this UNSW study is breaking new ground,” NSA’s Head of Research, Dr Diane Hosking said.

The results show older people welcome driver assistance features in new cars, but they don’t fully use or trust them.

The technologies include conventional cruise control, which has been around since the 1970s, and newer features like parking assistance, automatic emergency braking, and blind spot monitoring.

• Cruise control was far and away the most well-known and popular ADAS – more than 40% of participants regularly use it.
• Traffic-assist – which warns of oncoming traffic when reversing – and lane change warning tied for second at a much lower 23%.
• Park assist was least popular, used by fewer than 5% of study participants.

More participants said they have park assist in their car but they don’t use it than those who do regularly use it.

When asked if they would use advanced driver assistance systems if they came standard in their vehicle, 76% said they would, and 60% intended to use them in the future.

Findings also challenged the stereotype of older people shying away from technology, as 65% of participants agreed that advanced driver assistance systems would be easy to learn and to use.

Similarly, 75% agreed that having such systems in cars is a good idea and around 60% felt that using them would decrease their personal risk of crashes or traffic violations.