United States Department of Transportation
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Edition:Final Report
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Abstract:While the aging of the population represents the triumph of advances in medicine, technology, education and public health, this unprecedented demographic shift has resulted in new kinds of challenges around how to help older adults navigate their new longevity. This study explored questions and challenges around keeping an aging population mobile. In the US, driving one’s personal vehicle is the majority of people’s preferred means of getting around. For many older adults, however, the driving mode is not just a means to an end, but an end in and of itself: the act of driving is central to their senses of identity and autonomy (Donorfio et al. 2008a). Driving gives the individual the ability to make choices about the timing of trips and the order of stops and the overall sense of control over one’s life. A great deal of work on older adults and transportation has focused specifically on driving, much of it around driving self-regulation: older adults’ voluntary reduction of when and where they drive in order to stay safe (e.g., Donorfio et al. 2008b; Molnar et al. 2010; Owsley, Stalvey and Phillips 2003; Ross et al. 2009). Less work has explored how older adults think about their transportation alternatives, and more precisely, how the fastest growing segment of the population – the oldest old, those ages 85 and older – think about their transportation. Many studies focus on the younger old – those who are still active and may have on average 15 or more years of life ahead of them. In contrast, someone reaching the age of 85 today has on average another 6.7 years to live, and he or she is likely is a more frail condition than he or she was 10 or 15 years earlier. Yet transportation is just as vital to the oldest old as it is to the younger old. This study used a qualitative approach to explore older adults’ assessments of their transportation options and alternatives, including transit and personal vehicles.
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