The Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers (LongROAD) Study: Understanding the Design and Methods
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Summary
The Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers (LongROAD) study addresses the growing safety and mobility challenges associated with the increasing population of older drivers in the United States. With drivers aged 65 and older comprising 18% of the licensed population in 2015, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety launched this multisite prospective cohort study to understand the dynamic changes in driving safety as individuals age. The study aims to identify protective and risk factors for safe driving, assess the impact of medical conditions and medications, investigate self-regulation mechanisms, evaluate the use of vehicle technology, and determine the determinants and consequences of driving cessation. The study design involves a five-year prospective cohort of active drivers aged 65 to 79, recruited from five university-affiliated health systems across the United States. Between July 2015 and March 2017, 2,990 participants were enrolled, with a target distribution across three age groups (65–69, 70–74, and 75–79) and sexes. Data collection occurs annually, alternating between comprehensive in-person visits and abbreviated telephone interviews. In-person visits include functional assessments of cognitive, motor, and perceptual abilities, vehicle inspections, and "brown-bag" medication reviews. Participants also wear DataLogger devices to record objective driving behaviors, such as mileage, trip duration, night driving, and high-deceleration events. Archival data, including medical, driving, and crash records, are collected annually, alongside incidental data on driving cessation and mortality. Initial results indicate that the LongROAD cohort differs demographically from the general older driver population, exhibiting higher education, income, and better overall health. However, comparisons with the nationally representative American Driving Survey (ADS) Aging Cohort reveal similarities in driving behaviors and attitudes. LongROAD participants drove more miles and took longer trips than the ADS cohort but reported fewer vehicle safety features, likely due to differences in survey methods or vehicle ownership patterns. Avoidance behaviors were largely consistent between the two groups, with the notable exception of avoiding driving in bad weather at night, which was reported by 62% of LongROAD participants compared to only 18% of the ADS cohort. The significance of the LongROAD study lies in its status as the first multisite longitudinal cohort in the U.S. to integrate objective GPS data, functional assessments, and archival medical records to explore aging-related driving changes. By capturing detailed longitudinal data on risk factors and behavioral adaptations, the study aims to inform strategies for prolonging the mobility, independence, and well-being of older adults. The findings suggest that while the sample is not fully representative of the national demographic profile, it provides valid insights into driving behaviors that can contribute to effective traffic safety interventions.
Key finding
LongROAD enrolled 2,990 older drivers across five U.S. sites by March 2017, and baseline comparison with the nationally representative ADS Aging Cohort found similar driving avoidance behaviors despite LongROAD participants driving more miles with newer vehicles, supporting the cohort's use for longitudinal older-driver safety research.
Methodology
mixed_methods
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_aaa_foundation on 2026-05-23 (5 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | aaa_foundation | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 19 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
Topics
Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.
- older drivers
- exposure measurement
- older driver retraining
- mci dementia driving
- sex gender
- generational effects
Information type
What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).
- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence, behavioral performance data
- Methodological Resource: dataset resource