The American populace is getting older, and that means more senior citizens behind the wheel in the coming years. According to a study commissioned by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, people over the age of 65 already make up 17 percent of the driving population, and 68 percent of those over 85 are still on the road five or more days per week. However, new research indicates that older folks understand that there’s a concern about their safety as drivers, and the study suggests they are willing to accept measures that could potentially keep them off the highways.
The analysis gathered its data from surveys collected between 2011 and 2013 of over 10,000 people, resulting in 1,793 respondents 65 or older and split them into three groups: 65-69, 70-74 and 75+. When asked about laws that would require those over 75 to renew their license in person and pass a medical screening upon renewal, the older drivers supported both measures by over 70 percent. In fact, those 75 and older were most in favor of both. All three age brackets also generally favored tougher driving laws in general on infractions like speeding, cell phone use and driving under the influence.
Seniors appear largely to be safe drivers, as well. Around 90 percent of all the groups had no moving violations or crashes in the last two years, although all of the results were self-reported and could have been somewhat skewed.
“As older adults live longer and spend more time behind the wheel, it’s promising to see a trend towards a more pro-safety culture with increasing age,” said Jake Nelson, AAA’s director of traffic safety advocacy and research, in the organization’s announcement. This investigation is just the beginning for AAA; it’s also conducting a five-year study with 3,000 seniors to examine their driving habits.
This article originally appeared on Autoblog.
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