The old person in road traffic

Abstract

Due to the demographic change and the rising mobility of older adults in comparison with former generations, the number of old persons involved in road traffic has been continuously growing. The safety of all participating parties in road traffic necessitates asuccessful interaction of each individual's visual, motor and cognitive functions. These might be negatively affected by age-related physiological changes with alarge individual variation. In addition, old age is affected to varying degrees by multimorbidity and the resulting medication can further influence the ability to drive. There are, however, several options to compensate for potential functional losses in road traffic. Maintaining the mobility of old people for as long as possible and at the same time maintaining traffic safety for all participants represents a challenge for society and medicine when dealing with older adults. This article discusses the old person in road traffic from ageriatrics point of view.