A Longitudinal Investigation of Falls and Motor Vehicle Crashes in Older Drivers

Caitlin N. Pope; Pariya L. Fazeli; Tyler R. Bell; Meghana S. Gaini; Sylvie Mrug; David E. Vance; Karlene K. Ball

doi:10.1177/0898264320915111

A Longitudinal Investigation of Falls and Motor Vehicle Crashes in Older Drivers

Caitlin N. Pope, Pariya L. Fazeli, Tyler R. Bell, Meghana S. Gaini, Sylvie Mrug, David E. Vance, Karlene K. Ball

Health, Behavior, and Society

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: To assess the longitudinal association between fall history reported at a driver’s license screening visit and the likelihood of subsequent vehicle crashes. Method: A total of 1,127 older adults were recruited from Maryland State Motor Vehicle Administration sites and interviewed annually over 15 years. Results: Individuals who reported a previous fall were more likely to be female, perform worse on physical functioning and divided attention tasks, and report more situational driving avoidance compared with non-fallers at baseline. Females who reported a fall at baseline had a 2.6× greater likelihood of subsequently reporting a crash over the 15 years than males. Among those who reported a fall at baseline, greater weekly driving exposure over the 15 years was associated with a 23% higher likelihood of a subsequent crash. Discussion: These findings support the utility of investigating nontraditional driver screening methods to identify drivers who may be at increased risk of future driving difficulties.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1258-1266
Number of pages	9
Journal	Journal of Aging and Health
Volume	32
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264320915111
State	Published - Oct 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging (5R01AG021958-10 [Predicting Long-Term Mobility Outcomes for Older Adults], 1 P30 AG022838 [Edward R. Roybal Center for Translational Research on Aging and Mobility]) and U.S. Department of Transportation/National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (DOT/NHTSA) Contract DTNH22-96-C-05140, “Model Driver Screening and Evaluation Program.” A special thank you to the UAB Department of Psychology, UAB School of Nursing, and the Center for Research on Applied Gerontology. The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging (5R01AG021958-10 [Predicting Long-Term Mobility Outcomes for Older Adults], 1 P30 AG022838 [Edward R. Roybal Center for Translational Research on Aging and Mobility]) and U.S. Department of Transportation/National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (DOT/NHTSA) Contract DTNH22-96-C-05140, ?Model Driver Screening and Evaluation Program.?

Funders	Funder number
UAB Center for Research on Applied Gerontology
U.S. Department of Transportation/National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
UAB School of Nursing
National Institute on Aging	R01AG021958, 1 P30 AG022838
U.S. Department of Transportation
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration	DTNH22-96-C-05140

Keywords

aging
driving
falls
injury
mobility

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Health(social science)
Sociology and Political Science
Life-span and Life-course Studies

Access to Document

10.1177/0898264320915111

Cite this

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title = "A Longitudinal Investigation of Falls and Motor Vehicle Crashes in Older Drivers",

abstract = "Objective: To assess the longitudinal association between fall history reported at a driver{\textquoteright}s license screening visit and the likelihood of subsequent vehicle crashes. Method: A total of 1,127 older adults were recruited from Maryland State Motor Vehicle Administration sites and interviewed annually over 15 years. Results: Individuals who reported a previous fall were more likely to be female, perform worse on physical functioning and divided attention tasks, and report more situational driving avoidance compared with non-fallers at baseline. Females who reported a fall at baseline had a 2.6× greater likelihood of subsequently reporting a crash over the 15 years than males. Among those who reported a fall at baseline, greater weekly driving exposure over the 15 years was associated with a 23\% higher likelihood of a subsequent crash. Discussion: These findings support the utility of investigating nontraditional driver screening methods to identify drivers who may be at increased risk of future driving difficulties.",

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AU - Mrug, Sylvie

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N2 - Objective: To assess the longitudinal association between fall history reported at a driver’s license screening visit and the likelihood of subsequent vehicle crashes. Method: A total of 1,127 older adults were recruited from Maryland State Motor Vehicle Administration sites and interviewed annually over 15 years. Results: Individuals who reported a previous fall were more likely to be female, perform worse on physical functioning and divided attention tasks, and report more situational driving avoidance compared with non-fallers at baseline. Females who reported a fall at baseline had a 2.6× greater likelihood of subsequently reporting a crash over the 15 years than males. Among those who reported a fall at baseline, greater weekly driving exposure over the 15 years was associated with a 23% higher likelihood of a subsequent crash. Discussion: These findings support the utility of investigating nontraditional driver screening methods to identify drivers who may be at increased risk of future driving difficulties.

AB - Objective: To assess the longitudinal association between fall history reported at a driver’s license screening visit and the likelihood of subsequent vehicle crashes. Method: A total of 1,127 older adults were recruited from Maryland State Motor Vehicle Administration sites and interviewed annually over 15 years. Results: Individuals who reported a previous fall were more likely to be female, perform worse on physical functioning and divided attention tasks, and report more situational driving avoidance compared with non-fallers at baseline. Females who reported a fall at baseline had a 2.6× greater likelihood of subsequently reporting a crash over the 15 years than males. Among those who reported a fall at baseline, greater weekly driving exposure over the 15 years was associated with a 23% higher likelihood of a subsequent crash. Discussion: These findings support the utility of investigating nontraditional driver screening methods to identify drivers who may be at increased risk of future driving difficulties.

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A Longitudinal Investigation of Falls and Motor Vehicle Crashes in Older Drivers

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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