Association of Physical Function With Driving Space and Crashes Among Older Adults
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Summary
This study investigates the association between physical function and two critical driving outcomes—driving space and crash involvement—among older adults. While maintaining mobility is essential for the well-being of older drivers, age-related physical impairments may increase crash risk and lead to self-imposed driving restrictions, which are associated with negative health outcomes. Previous research on this topic has yielded inconsistent results, often due to varied measurement tools. This study specifically examines whether the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), a standardized measure of lower extremity function, predicts driving mobility and safety. The researchers utilized cross-sectional baseline data from the AAA Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers (LongROAD) study, comprising 2,990 active drivers aged 65–79 years. Physical function was assessed using the NHATS Expanded SPPB, with scores categorized as poor (0–7), fair (8–10), or good (11–12). Driving space was measured via self-reported distances driven in the past three months, with "restricted" space defined as not driving beyond neighboring towns. Crash involvement was defined as any accident in the past year. Multivariate log-binomial and logistic regressions were employed to estimate associations, adjusting for covariates such as age, gender, depression, cognitive health, and driving exposure. The results indicated that higher physical functioning was associated with better driving outcomes. After adjustment, drivers with fair SPPB scores had a 12% lower prevalence of restricted driving space compared to those with poor scores (prevalence ratio [PR] = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.78–0.99), while those with good scores had a 22% lower prevalence (PR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.61–0.99). Regarding safety, drivers with fair SPPB scores had significantly reduced odds of crash involvement compared to those with poor scores (odds ratio [OR] = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.60–0.84). However, drivers with good SPPB scores did not show a statistically significant reduction in crash risk (OR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.62–1.10). Gender did not significantly modify these associations. The study concludes that the SPPB is a useful, objective tool for identifying older drivers at risk for restricted mobility and crashes. These findings support the hypothesis that better physical function correlates with enhanced driving safety and mobility. The authors suggest that the SPPB could be integrated into clinical assessments or intervention programs to help balance the competing needs of maintaining independence and ensuring road safety. Further longitudinal research is recommended to understand the temporal effects of physical function on driving behaviors and to validate the SPPB’s utility in broader intervention contexts.
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 author_sweep_intake on 2026-05-27 (2 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | author_sweep | — | — | 3 | 2026-05-28 |
| archive | success | semantic_scholar | — | — | 30 | 2026-06-09 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-09 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| enrich | skipped | — | — | — | 3 | 2026-06-04 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 1 | 2026-06-09 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 15 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-09 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-09; verification: verified.
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