Abstract

The trend of ageing societies in industrialized countries is visible in Europe. Demographic forecasts for Poland show that by 2030 number of people over 65 years old will increase by 3.6 million in comparison to 2010, which means that 1/4 of the country population (approximately 10 million) will still drive vehicles.

In 2017, Motor Transport Institute conducted research regarding drivers 50+. The age of 50 is a moment when people start to experience changes related to age. The aim of the study was to learn about attitudes of the drivers toward road safety problems, important factors influencing safety, opinions on driving skills improvements’ forms and ageing influence on safe participation in traffic.

The study was conducted with computer assisted web interview method, targeted at drivers 50+ (50% males, 50% females) living in Warsaw (50%) and other randomly selected cities of the Mazovian voivodship (50%). The study included other variables (i.e. education, driving licence category, frequency of driving, annual km travelled, and driving experience).

Only 2% of drivers 50+were aware that health condition and 1% that age can influence the ability to drive. 37% of the respondents indicated that most important road safety factor was complying with the rules, 26% – driving skills and 11% – age and technical condition of the vehicle. 17% of the drivers declared they were not interested in road safety issues. The most popular sources of road safety information among respondents were radio and television (61%) and Internet (46%). Majority of respondents did not attend any drivers training after obtaining licence but would like to participate and learn about own strengths and weaknesses in traffic.

The obtained results indicate the need to intensify awareness raising actions and forms of skills improvement for drivers 50+, which would make their participation in traffic safer.