Pilot Educational Outreach to High-Risk Elderly Drivers - Report

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by Rhys

Pilot Educational Outreach to High-Risk Elderly Drivers evaluated an educational intervention for over 40,000 Class 3 drivers aged 70 and older who had some traffic incidents but were not classified as negligent operators under California law. Participants were randomly assigned to four groups receiving varying combinations of pamphlets, a resource list of Internet addresses and phone numbers, a questionnaire, and a cover letter. Sending more materials produced no significant changes in subsequent crashes or traffic convictions. Questionnaire return rates ranged from 43% to 62%, with higher knowledge among those who received the educational material. The report concludes with survey-related lessons and includes extensive appendices with materials, resource listings, attitudes toward DMV, and examples from a Senior Web Site.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages95

Reading Time3 h 59 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Study design and participant grouping

Intervention materials and measurements

Findings on crashes and convictions

Questionnaire results and respondent differences

Discussion and appendices

STATE OF CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES PILOT EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH TO HIGH-RISK ELDERLY DRIVERS March 2005 Authors: Shara Lynn Kelsey and Mary K. Janke Research and Development Branch © California Department of Motor Vehicles, 2005 Licensing Operations Division | REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE | | | | | Form Approved
OMB No. 0704-0188 | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202- 4302 , and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188), Washington, DC 20503. | | | | | | | | 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) | | 2. REPORT DATE March 2005 | | 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED | | | | 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE
Pilot Educational Outreach to High-Risk Elderly Drivers | | | | | 5. FUNDING NUMBERS | | | 6. AUTHOR(S)
Shara Lynn Kelsey and Mary K. Janke | | | | | | | | 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)
California Department of Motor Vehicles
Research and Development Section
P.O. Box 932382
Sacramento, CA 94232-3820 | | | | | 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER
CAL-DMV-RSS-05-213 | | | 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)
Office of Traffic Safety
7000 Franklin Boulevard, Suite 400
Sacramento, CA 94223-1899 | | | | | 10. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY REPORT NUMBER
TR0006 | | | 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES | | | | | | | | 12a. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT | | | | | 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE | | | 13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words)
Over 40,000 Class 3 drivers aged 70 or more who had some traffic incidents on their driving records, but not so many as to make them "negligent operators" under California law, were randomly divided into four groups. One group received educational material (pamphlets, brochures) relating to older driver traffic safety, a resource list of Internet addresses and phone numbers for driving-or elder-oriented organizations, a questionnaire, and a cover letter. A second received only the resource list, questionnaire, and cover letter, while a third received the questionnaire and cover letter, and the fourth was not contacted in any way. There was no significant effect on either subsequent crashes or traffic convictions as a function of the amount of material sent. For the questionnaire, group return rates ranged from 43% to 62%, and several differences were found among the respondents consistent with greater knowledge among those who were sent the educational material. The report ends with a discussion of lessons learned with respect to surveying people—and elderly people specifically—and includes voluminous appendices containing, in part, much of the educational material, the resource list, a presentation of respondent group attitudes toward DMV, and illustrative pages from DMV's new Senior Web Site. | | | | | | | | 14. SUBJECT TERMS
Aged (older, elderly, senior) drivers, educational interventions
(treatments), effect of road safety education, survey seniors (elders) | | | | | | 15. NUMBER OF PAGES 90 | | | | | | | | 16. PRICE CODE | | 17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF REPORT
Unclassified | 18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE
Unclassified | | 19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF ABSTRACT
Unclassified | | | 20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT None | NSN 7540-01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (2-89) Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39-18 298-102 PREFACE This

FAQs

How were the elderly drivers assigned to groups in the pilot study?

More than 40,000 Class 3 drivers aged 70+ with some traffic incidents were randomly divided into four groups receiving different combinations of educational material, resource lists, questionnaires, and cover letters.

Did providing more educational materials reduce crashes or traffic convictions?

No significant effect was found on either subsequent crashes or traffic convictions as a function of the amount of material sent.

What did the questionnaire results show about knowledge?

Group return rates ranged from 43% to 62%, and differences among respondents were consistent with greater knowledge among those who were sent the educational material.

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by Rhys