title: Driving cessation: what older former drivers tell us.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To understand why older drivers living in a community setting stop driving.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study within a longitudinal cohort.
  
  
  METHODS
  A geographically defined community in southern California.
  
  
  METHODS
  1,950 respondents age 55 and older who reported ever being licensed drivers.
  
  
  METHODS
  A mailed survey instrument of self-reported driving habits linked to prior demographic, health, and medical information.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 1,950 eligible respondents, 141 had stopped driving within the previous 5 years. Among those who stopped, mean age was 85.5 years, 65.2% were female, and the majority reported they were in very good (43.4%) or good (34.0%) health. Nearly two-thirds reported driving less than 50 miles per week prior to stopping and 12.1% reported a motor vehicle crash during the previous 5 years. The most common reasons reported for stopping were medical (41.0%) and age-related (19.4%). In bivariate analyses, age and miles driven per week were each associated with cessation (P < or = .001). Medical conditions, crashes in the previous 5 years, and gender did not reach statistical significance at the P < or = .05 level. Logistic regression results found that the number of medical conditions was inversely associated with driving cessation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The relationship between medical conditions and driving is complex; while medical conditions were the most common reason given for driving cessation, those who stopped had fewer medical conditions than current drivers. This suggests that a broader measure of general health or functional ability may play a dominant role in decisions to stop driving.
authors.affiliation: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30341, USA.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Dellinger
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sehgal
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Sleet
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barrett-Connor
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001334:Automobile Driving; D002140:California; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged