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Epidemiology
Research
A cross-sectional study of travel patterns of older adults in the USA during 2015: implications for mobility and traffic safety
  1. Sijun Shen1,2,
  2. Wilson Koech3,
  3. Jing Feng4,
  4. Thomas M Rice5,
  5. Motao Zhu1,2
  1. 1 Center for Injury Research and Policy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
  2. 2 Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
  3. 3 Department of Epidemiology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA
  4. 4 Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
  5. 5 Safe Transportation Research and Education Center, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Motao Zhu; Motao.Zhu{at}nationwidechildrens.org

Abstract

Background With an ever increasing population of older adults (65+ years) in the USA, a better understanding of this population’s travel patterns is needed to improve travel mobility and transportation safety.

Objective In this study, we described the travel patterns of older adults in the USA during 2015.

Methods Travel patterns of older adults (65–74 and 75+ years) were compared with younger adults (25–64 years) by frequency and proportion of daily trips. The daily trips of various age groups were estimated using the 2015 American Time Use Survey.

Results The percentage of daily travellers was 88% for adults (25–64 years), 75% for adults (65–74 years) and 68% for adults (75+ years). While the percentage of privately owned vehicle (POV) drivers and average time of driving POVs decreased, the percentage of POV passengers increased as adults aged. Females were less likely to drive POVs and had decreased average daily driving time, but they were more likely to ride in POVs as passengers and had longer average daily riding times than their male counterparts across all age groups. Older adults were more likely to travel in the mornings and early afternoons (from 8:00 to 15:59) while younger adults were more likely to travel in the late afternoons and early evenings (from 16:00 to 19:59).

Conclusions POV use is the predominant mode of transit in the USA. As adults age, the percentages of daily travellers and POV drivers decrease. This pattern is more apparent among females than males. This study delineated travel patterns of older adults using a 2015 national survey, and the findings facilitate traffic systems designers and policy-makers to develop and implement initiatives to accommodate older adults’ mobility needs and improve traffic safety.

  • adult analysis
  • mobility
  • travel activities
  • privately owned vehicles

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-015780

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors SS and WK had equal contributions to this paper. SS led the writing and participated in the data analysis. WK conducted the data analysis and assisted in the manuscript writing. JF and TMR critically reviewed and substantially revised the manuscript. MZ mentored for the study design, data analysis and manuscript writing. MZ had full access to all of the data (including statistical reports and tables) in the study and can take full responsibility for the overall content.

    • Funding SS, WK and MZ received support from the US National Institute on Aging (grant R01AG050581). MZ additionally received support from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grants R01HD074594 and R21HD085122).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent None.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement All the data used in this manuscript can be accessed on the website of the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the US Department of Labor.