Adjusting to Aging

From pedal extensions to seat cushions, older drivers have a number of options available to make their vehicles safer and enable them to stay behind the wheel longer. Unfortunately, nearly 90 percent of senior driver in a recent AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study report not making these adaptions to their vehicles.

AAA urges drivers older than 65 -- who are 17 times more likely than younger ones to be injured or killed when involved in a crash -- to consider these options.

The report is the first phase in the AAA Foundation's groundbreaking Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers (LongROAD) project gathering data on drivers 65 and older.

Vehicle adaptions can benefit seniors' mental health by extending the time they are able to remain licensed drivers. Previous AAA Foundation research shows that older people who have stopped driving are almost twice as likely to suffer from depression and nearly five times more likely to enter a long-term care facility than those who remain behind the wheel.

Conditions impacting a driver's muscles or bones are of particular concern. In the LongROAD study, more than 70 percent of senior drivers had experienced health conditions impacting muscles and bones such as arthritis, hip/knee replacement, and joint pain conditions. The installation of products such as steering wheel covers can help lessen the impact of arthritis. Larger mirrors and assistive devices on seats, meanwhile, can help reduce the impact of limited neck mobility.

Visit seniordriving.aaa.com for more tools and resources to help senior drivers stay safer longer.