A questionnaire was sent by post to a sample of holders of driving licenses

who had been born in the year 1944. The questionnaire covered present travel

habits, expectations regarding the future as older road users, and giving

lifts to elderly people. By targeting this group, it is anticipated that a

more correct picture can be obtained of such things as future travel patterns

compared with the usual method of basing forecasts on today's elderly people.

As regards present travel patterns, the results showed such things as a

continuation of the unequal distribution of car driving between males and

females, that the car dominated as a method of travel, and that the car was

considered to be necessary more often by men than it was by women.

Expectations regarding the future were captured by asking the respondent to

imagine that he or she was 80 years old at the time of filling in the

questionnaire, and indicating his or her view of the probability of various

phenomena at that age. Most of the respondents anticipated a rather active

and mobile old age ahead of them, and the degree of optimism increased with

increased mileage driven annually. However, over one-third of the women

considered that it was not at all probable that they would be driving a car

at the age of 80. Almost half of the respondents gave lifts to older

relatives and acquaintances regularly, typically up to four times a month.