Older Driver Safety Awareness Week Highlights Options for Safe Mobility

ALBANY, NY (12/08/2009)(readMedia)-- This week (Dec. 6-12, 2009) has been designated as the Older Driver Safety Awareness Week by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA.) Older Driver Safety Awareness Week aims to promote understanding of the importance of mobility and transportation to ensuring older adults remain active in the community - shopping, working or volunteering - with the confidence that transportation will not be the barrier to strand them at home.

Over the course of the last twelve years, New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) has established itself as a leader in older driver policy and program development. NYSOFA is a member of the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee which has designated older drivers as one of its top ten priority areas for traffic safety efforts.

Governor Paterson said, "Driving is a key part of living independently for older New Yorkers and we want to help them enjoy that independence for as long as it's safely possible. This week, as we acknowledge Older Driver Safety Awareness, I would like to thank the Traffic Safety Committee for their work throughout the year to identify and test initiatives that improve the safety for all our residents, young and old, on roads, highways and streets across the state."

Michael Burgess Director of the New York State Office for the Aging announced that his agency was recently awarded funding by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to continue the Capital Region Older Driver Assistance Network. The project is administered under the auspice of NYSOFA's Older Driver and Pedestrian Safety Project and was awarded funds through the New York State Governor's Traffic Safety Committee, which coordinates traffic safety activities in the state.

"The funding provided to the New York State Office for the Aging by the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee provides important resources for us to work with our local community partners to put in place the Older Driver Assistance Network in the Capital District. The work being done here in the Capital District will serve as a model for localities across the state to help plan for the increase in older drivers during the next decade as baby boomers age into the ranks of the elderly," Director Burgess said.

The Capital Region Older Driver Assistance Network is a model program developed by NYSOFA for replication in other parts of the state. This network model has helped older drivers and their families in Erie and Westchester counties for many years. A new older driver assistance network is being established in Allegany County and should be operational in early 2010.

The program serves as a community focal point comprised of resources that function together as one entity with the capacity to provide various levels of assistance to an aging driver or anyone attempting to help an aging driver. By working together network partners provide older driver education, evaluation, individualized interventions and information to address critical driving safety issues and problems faced by aging drivers. Project activities are facilitated by linking to the education and outreach activities routinely provided by county offices for the aging.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports there will be nearly 9 million people 85 and older by 2030, up 73 percent from today. With increasing age come changes in physical, mental and sensory abilities that can challenge a person's continued ability to drive safely.

Presently, there are a total of 11.3 million licensed drivers in New York State and 42 percent are over 50 years of age. Persons aged 50-64 hold 2.8 million driver licenses and represent about 25 percent of the total driving population. Persons aged 65 and over hold 1.8 million driver licenses and account for 17 percent of the total.

The program provides presentations on how to establish an older driver assistance network to those interested in establishing a network in their community. Interested parties should contact Michael Paris, Project Director at Michael.Paris@ofa.state.ny.us or by calling (518) 474-2473.

In 2008, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles established the Office for the Older Driver to promote the needs of senior drivers through educational tools that support traffic safety.

The Office for the Older Driver recently launched the "Resources for the Older Driver" Web site http://www.nysdmv.com/olderdriver/. The new site offers a full range of safe-driving tips and information and DMV services for seniors, their families, advocates and the general public, as well as links and phone numbers to government agencies and community-based services. The site is designed to be a "living document," and planned additional features include traffic-safety documentaries, interactive videos and related articles of interest to older drivers.

Commissioner David J. Swarts of the Department of Motor Vehicles and Chair of the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee said, "We aim to keep all our motorists knowledgeable, skilled and up-to-date on the resources available to help them drive more safely. We are further committed to

recognizing, understanding and advocating for the needs of older drivers through programs that enhance driving awareness, promote safer driving and offer available alternatives to driving."

Throughout this week, AOTA will bring attention to a different aspect of older driver safety. For more information including a schedule of events, please visit www.aota.org/OlderDriverWeek.