The Potential for Advanced Vehicle Systems to Increase the Mobility of Elderly Drivers

The ranks of elderly drivers will continue to swell as the "baby-boomers" begin to reach retirement age. As a result, one of the most prevalent issues in transportation is driver aging. According to Franzen and llhage (1990), the driver population over 65 will soon consist of one out of every seven drivers on the road. Thus, in the near future the importance of maintaining mobility for older drivers will become even more critical in the U.S. generally and certainly in Iowa as a comparatively elderly state. Parviainen, Atkinson, and Young (1991) studied both the aging population and the handicapped with regard to in-vehicle systems development. They concluded that because the number of aging drivers will double by the year 2030, such systems must be designed to accommodate drivers with special needs. Among the more serious issues associated with an aging driver population are discrimination and lack of highway traffic engineering to accommodate older drivers (Waller, 1991).