You may not know it, but there’s a celebration going on this week: According to the American Occupational Therapy Association, December 7-11 is Older Driver Safety Awareness Week. This may have skipped your mind, as many of us aren’t driving much these days. According to a recent survey described by AARP, only  ½ of older Americans are using their cars daily as compared to pre-pandemic habits. And while those surveyed predicted they may not return to their previous driving habits even when the pandemic retreats, the question becomes, whether and how older adults will need to relearn safe driving habits or even retrain for safer driving skills once they return to the roads?

It’s no small matter that older drivers need to practice safe driving, for their own benefit as well as for others on the road. According to the CDC, in 2017, there were 44 million licensed drivers over age 65 in the US, which was a 63% increase from the number of drivers that age in 1999. In 2016 alone, 7700 older adults were killed in US car crashes and 290,000 were injured. In fact, in Oregon, the fatality rate of drivers over 65 is 17X higher than for drivers ages 25-64. Older individuals are more likely to die in crashes due to frailty and other medical conditions, which calls into question just how states handle the licensing and skills of older drivers. In the US, states vary widely as to whether and how vision needs to be checked to renew a license or even whether an older adult will need to retake their road test (apparently Illinois requires this for drivers over 75). In Japan, in contrast, all drivers over 75 are required to undergo a cognitive screening when renewing a driver’s license and programs have been developed that retrain older adults to drive safely.

Even with just normal aging, when joints or muscles stiffen, vision or hearing may become impaired or medications may affect judgment or response times, driving takes on a new dimension of risk for older adults and their passengers. The good news is that there are many available resources to help drivers consider whether renewed training or reduced driving may be necessary given their age and physical or cognitive limitations. So, for example, Help Guide has published a comprehensive driving resource for older adults. It includes safety tips, vehicle recommendations, defensive driving strategies, and suggestions about recognizing your own driving limitations. And in celebration of Older Driver Safety Awareness Week, the American Occupational Therapy Association has made available a wide array of resources covering everything from anticipating changes that can affect your driving to conducting conversations about driving limitations. So Windex your windshield and find out more here.