Abstract
BACKGROUND
New Zealand's transport system is built around the private car, with people relying on driving for most of their life and into their later years. As the population ages, more people will drive further into later life, and more will eventually stop. The impacts of driving cessation have not been examined in a longitudinal context within New Zealand.
AIMS
To explore and describe how driving cessation unfolds among older New Zealand current drivers (aged 65+, N = 1,057) within a seven-year longitudinal cohort that includes individual, interpersonal, environmental, and policy factors shaping this event. A second aim examined how health, wellbeing, and social participation changed within individuals before, around, and after driving cessation (aged 65+, N = 127).
RESULTS
A Cox proportional hazards model was used to examine associations between a range of covariates and driving cessation among current drivers at baseline. Age showed the strongest association with cessation. Health and functional limitations, psychological factors including depressive symptoms and lower self-efficacy, and driving behaviours such as self-regulation and anxiety each remained independently associated with cessation after adjustment for age, sex, ethnicity, and educational attainment. Family-initiated discussions about driving were also associated with cessation. Among those who ceased driving during follow-up (N = 127), cognition, depression, and quality of life were already declining before cessation occurred. The largest shifts at the time of cessation were in satisfaction with getting to places, self-rated eyesight, loneliness, and life satisfaction. After cessation, cognition and self-efficacy continued to decline.
CONCLUSION
These findings establish that driving cessation is both a gradual process preceded by observable deterioration and a discrete turning point that carries measurable consequences for wellbeing and participation. This thesis provides the first longitudinal analysis of driving cessation among older New Zealand adults, extending and confirming previous cross-sectional investigations of this cohort.