Citation

Rundgren, Stahl A, International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine. J. Traffic Med. 1984; 12(1): 8-11.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1984, International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In a mail survey of about 900 men and women above the age of 65 living in one small and large city in Sweden and also in a longitudinal and cohort comparison population study of people between the ages of 70 to 79, living in another large city, questions were asked about car-driving and the possession of a driver's license and of a car. In the age-group 65-74 half of the households owned a car, while in the age group 75-79 only 22 percent had a car. Of all people above the age of 65, 33 percent held a driver's license. At the age of 65-69 about every second person had a driver's license, while at the age of 75-79 this proportion was about one fourth to one third and at 85 years or above less than one in five held a driver's license. A pronounced sex difference in holding a driver's license was evident, the ratio males to females being 7:2 at the age of 65-69 and 7:1 at the age of 70-74. A decrease in the frequency of car-driving was found with increasing age. This was not primarily due to reduction in driving frequency with increasing age due to i.e. medical reasons, but seems to be a consequence of a lower prevalence of holding a driver's license. Only 15 percent of those men who drove a car at the age of 70 had given this up at the age of 79.

Language: en

Keywords

Aged drivers; Driver licenses; Gender; Sweden; Automobile ownership