Page 5 - AAA Now! – AAA Central Penn – May/June 2022

MEMBERSHIP
Senior Driver Safety and Mobility
Older Americans today are healthier and more active than ever before. The aging baby boomer generation is the fastest- growing demographic in the U.S. By 2030, there will be more than 70 million people aged 65 and older, and approximately 85-90 percent of them will be licensed to drive. In fact, seniors are outliving their ability to drive safely by an average of 7-10 years, and for the first time in history we must plan for our “driving retirement” just as we plan for our financial retirement.
Senior drivers are among the safest drivers on the road and often reduce their risk of injury by wearing safety belts, not drinking and driving, and by observing speed limits; however, seniors are more likely to be injured or killed in a crash due to age- related fragility. Except for teenagers, seniors have the highest crash death rate per mile driven. As we age, our ability to drive safely is affected by natural changes to our bodies over time.
AAA is dedicated to keeping seniors driving for as long as safely possible. That is why we offer AAA’s Mature Operator Certification. This 8-hour course is specifically designed
for PA drivers aged 55 and older to positively affect driving behavior. This course teaches you about the physical changes that occur as you age and how they can negatively affect your driving skills. You will learn how to better manage visibility, time, and space, along with other comfort and safety tips.
Solving a Puzzle:
With Fewer Drivers on the Road During COVID, Why the Spike in Fatalities?
As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the country, it led to fewer drivers on the roads and a significant reduction in the number of miles driven. And yet, U.S. government data shows traffic fatalities have surged, along with an increase in crashes involving risky behavior. To understand the rise in dangerous driving behaviors, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety examined whether the pandemic changed the composition of drivers on the road. It found that while most drivers reduced their driving during the pandemic, a small proportion actually increased their driving. Making matters worse, those who increased their driving appeared to be riskier than average, even after accounting for their age, gender, and how much they drove.
“Our research finds that higher-risk motorists accounted for a greater share of drivers during the pandemic than before it,” said Dr. David Yang, executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. “Safety-minded individuals drove less, while many who increased their driving tended to engage in riskier
Not only does this course teach you how to extend your driving career, it also teaches how to combat destructive driving behaviors that can disrupt your driving career, such as distractions, drowsiness, road rage, and impaired driving, including driving on certain medications.
This flexible course is available to you in three different formats: in-person, virtually, and online (Please see page 6). The in-person classroom meets at the AAA branches located in Harrisburg and Lancaster. Classes are also held at Juniper Village in Lebanon. The virtual classroom allows you to see and hear one of our certified driving school instructors, ask questions and participate in discussion from the comfort of your own home. Another option to complete the certificate is online, where you work at your own pace, anytime, any day. To get your certificate online you must pass a quiz at the end. Participants who successfully complete the certification are eligible for a three-year auto insurance premium discount of up to 5%.
behaviors behind the wheel.”
The Foundation’s new research finds while only a small
percentage of drivers (4%) increased their driving due to the pandemic, they were younger and disproportionately male – a statistically riskier driver group than the average population.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions have significantly affected travel behavior and traffic safety in the United States. According to the Foundation’s newest American Driving Survey, during the early months of the pandemic, the average daily number of driving trips made by U.S. adults decreased by an estimated 42% in April 2020, rebounded slightly, and then leveled off in the second half of 2020 at 2.2 daily trips, roughly 20% below the 2.7 daily trips in the second half of 2019.
And yet, when the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released its 2020 traffic fatality data, it found an estimated 38,680 people died in vehicle crashes – the largest number
of fatalities since 2007. This represents an increase of about 7.2 percent compared to the 36,096 deaths reported in 2019. And the surge in fatalities continues, with NHTSA’s new data for traffic fatalities for the first nine months of 2021, finding that an estimated 31,720 people died in crashes from January through September 2021, an increase of approximately 12% compared to the first nine months of 2020.
The increase in traffic fatalities is not a worldwide occurrence. Road deaths have been reported to be lower in almost all other high-income countries since 2019.
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