License extensions for clean-record drivers: A 4-year follow-up

The Social and Policy Predictors of Driving Mobility Among Older Adults

“…In addition to research on driver-level interventions, research has examined the effect of driver's license renewal laws on fatal traffic crashes among older people (Grabowski & Morrisey, 2001;Grabowski, Campbell, & Morrisey, 2004;Kelsey, Janke, Peck, & Ratz, 1985, Nelson, Sacks, & Chorba, 1992Levy, Vernick, & Howard, 1995). The results have been mixed.…”

“…They found that mandatory vision testing, adjusted for the driver's license renewal period, was associated with reductions in the risk of fatal crashes for older drivers. Kelsey et al (1985) conducted a randomized study of older, clean-record drivers in California and found that over the 4-year follow-up, the renewal-by-mail group and the control group, which underwent annual written and vision renewal tests, had similar crash rates. Nevertheless, Grabowski et al (2004) suggested that the only policy associated with lower fatality rates was the in-person renewal of driver's licenses for the oldest category (85 years and older).…”

“…This approach recommends that states adopt more standardized and stricter laws to regulate the driver's license renewal process by instituting mandatory road testing for license renewal beginning at age 60. However, several studies have evaluated the safety effects of age-related screening policies and have found that age alone is not a good predictor of driving ability (Kelsey, Janke, Peck, & Ratz, 1985;Tripodis, 1997). Results suggest that older drivers should not be tested on the basis of their age but on the basis of their observed or reported abilities because the goal is to preserve mobility while ensuring public safety (Staplin & Lococo, 2003;Molnar, Eby, & Dobbs, 2005).…”

Medical Screening of Older Drivers as a Traffic Safety Measure—A Comparative Finnish‐Swedish Evaluation Study

“…Evaluating the safety effects of medical screening of older drivers is methodologically very difficult. The few existing studies show little or no effect of medical screening 6, 7 . The present study proposes to evaluate the safety effects of the Finnish screening system for older license holders through a comparison of the Finnish safety situation with that of Sweden.…”