Transportation-Related Behaviors and Attitudes: A Survey of Florida’s Aging Road Users
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Summary
This study addresses the transportation challenges faced by Florida’s rapidly aging population, which comprises over 20% of the state’s residents. Motivated by the need to support the Florida Safe Mobility for Life Coalition (SMFLC) and the Aging Road User Strategic Safety Plan, the research aims to understand the behaviors, attitudes, and preparedness of aging road users to improve their safety and mobility. The project serves as a follow-up and extension of a 2017 baseline survey, seeking to update data on transportation trends and identify persistent challenges among adults aged 50 and older. The researchers conducted a statewide online survey in 2020–2021, collecting data from 4,275 respondents. This sample was larger and demographically comparable to the 2017 survey, with a focus on increasing representation from underrepresented rural areas. The survey assessed driving frequency, use of alternative transportation modes, self-regulated driving behaviors, self-rated driving ability, attitudes toward driving retirement, hurricane preparedness, health status, and awareness of SMFLC resources. The study compared current findings with pre-pandemic patterns and analyzed predictors of transportation behaviors through bivariate and multivariate analyses. The results indicate that driving remains the primary transportation mode, with 75% of respondents driving several times a week or daily. While 77% found it easy to get where they needed to go, this ease decreased significantly for those aged 85 and older. Respondents viewed driving as central to their independence and social connections, yet 52% had not planned for a time when they could no longer drive, a figure five times higher than planning for other life transitions. Self-rated driving abilities were uniformly high, though ratings for night driving were lower, correlating with higher avoidance of night driving among older and female respondents. Distracted driving behaviors were relatively uncommon, with seatbelt use reported at 98%. Regarding hurricane preparedness, most respondents reported high levels of readiness, though 12% required evacuation assistance. Awareness of SMFLC resources was extremely low, with 88% of respondents unaware of the Coalition prior to the survey. The findings highlight five critical issues for policy and outreach: the lack of viable transportation alternatives to driving, the psychological centrality of driving to older adults’ identity, limited planning for driving retirement, gaps in hurricane evacuation preparedness for vulnerable groups, and low awareness of existing safety resources. The study concludes that interventions should focus on promoting planning for driving retirement, increasing knowledge of alternative transportation modes, addressing specific gaps in emergency preparedness, and significantly boosting awareness of the Safe Mobility for Life Coalition to support the safety and integration of Florida’s aging population.
Key finding
Most Florida residents aged 50 and older rely heavily on driving for independence and mobility, yet over half have not planned for driving retirement, and awareness of state mobility resources is minimal.
Methodology
survey
Sample size: 4275
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_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 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 | 3 | 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.
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- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence