Older Driver Safety Awareness Week

Older Driver Safety Awareness Week is a week-long observance held during December to promote safe, informed, and independent mobility for older adults. It is associated with the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), whose occupational-therapy professionals have long worked with older drivers, families, and communities on the practical challenges of driving as people age. Rather than treating age alone as a reason to stop driving, the observance emphasizes individual abilities, health conditions, vehicle adaptations, and transportation planning.

The observance developed from growing recognition that driving is closely connected to independence, employment, health care, social participation, and quality of life. At the same time, normal and age-related changes—including reduced vision, slower reaction time, physical limitations, medication effects, and cognitive changes—can affect driving performance. Older Driver Safety Awareness Week gives professionals an organized opportunity to discuss driver evaluations, adaptive equipment, rehabilitation, roadway awareness, and conversations about safer driving decisions.

Over time, the week has broadened beyond a narrow focus on driver testing. Its message now commonly includes preventive planning: older adults are encouraged to monitor their own driving, seek professional assessment when concerns arise, and consider alternatives before a crisis forces an immediate decision. Families and caregivers are also encouraged to approach these conversations respectfully, preserving dignity while addressing genuine safety concerns. Community transportation, rides from family and friends, public transit, paratransit, and newer mobility services are presented as parts of a broader transportation plan rather than simply as substitutes after driving ends.

Culturally, the observance reflects a shift toward viewing later-life mobility as a shared public-health and community issue. It recognizes the importance of helping older adults remain connected while acknowledging that safe mobility may eventually involve adapting a vehicle, changing driving habits, limiting certain conditions, or retiring from driving. Through educational campaigns and professional guidance during its December observance, Older Driver Safety Awareness Week encourages informed decisions that balance autonomy, inclusion, and the safety of drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and other road users.