Introduction

Mobility limitation can hinder one's access to goods and services that may lead to poor health outcomes, especially among older adults who do not drive. Existing literature on older adults' mobility limitations has majorly focused on single transportation mode (e.g., walking, public transit), and little is known about the differences in trip purposes and all-mode transportation patterns between driving older adults and non-driving counterparts especially in suburban and rural areas with more aging population.

Methods

502 individuals aged 65 and older were included in our study drawn from a transportation survey conducted in Washington County, Wisconsin. Binary and ordered logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine whether older adults’ driving status was significantly associated with their trip purposes and trip frequency by various modes, while controlling for covariates including socio-demographic characteristics.

Results

A larger percentage of non-driving older adults compared to driving counterparts needed to make maintenance trips (e.g., medical or dental appointments, food pantry) but a smaller percentage for leisure trips (e.g., socializing, movies/art/theater). However, there was no difference in subsistence trips (e.g., worship, work) between drivers and non-drivers. While making more trips via dependent modes (e.g., riding with family or friends, public transit), non-driving older adults traveled less frequently than older drivers overall, because they made fewer trips via independent modes (e.g., driving, walking).

Conclusions

The findings indicate that non-driving older adults are in greater need for medical care or food assistance, as well as having greater limitations in mobility and dependency on others for trips. In addition, further analyses in this study suggest improvement of alternative transportation services (e.g., advanced vehicle scheduling methods, inter-county transit service collaboration), usage of assistive technology, and education about transportation services to help improve mobility among non-driving older adults in suburban and rural areas.

中文翻译：

---

驾驶状态如何影响郊区和农村社区老年人的出行方式？

介绍

行动不便会阻碍人们获得商品和服务，这可能导致健康状况不佳，尤其是在不开车的老年人中。现有关于老年人行动不便的文献主要集中在单一交通方式（例如步行，公共交通）上，而对于驾驶老年人和非驾驶同行之间的出行目的和全模式交通方式的差异知之甚少在人口老龄化的郊区和农村地区。

方法

我们在威斯康星州华盛顿县进行的交通运输调查中纳入了502名65岁及65岁以上的人。进行了二元和有序逻辑回归分析，以确定老年人的驾驶状态是否通过各种模式与他们的出行目的和出行频率显着相关，同时控制包括社会人口统计学特征的协变量。

结果

与进行驾驶旅行（例如，医疗或牙科预约，食品储藏室）的同行相比，非驾驶老年人的百分比更高，而休闲旅行（例如，社交，电影/艺术/戏剧）的比例则较小。但是，驾驶员和非驾驶员之间的生存旅行（例如，敬拜，工作）没有差异。在通过依赖模式（例如，与家人或朋友一起骑行，公共交通）进行更多旅行的同时，非驾驶老年人的总体旅行频率低于老年人，因为他们通过独立模式（例如，驾驶，步行）进行的旅行较少。

结论

研究结果表明，非驾车的老年人更需要医疗护理或食品援助，并且行动不便和对他人出行的依赖也受到更大的限制。此外，本研究的进一步分析表明，其他交通服务的改进（例如，先进的车辆调度方法，县际交通服务协作），辅助技术的使用以及有关交通服务的教育有助于改善非驾车老年人的流动性在郊区和农村地区。