Effect of Perception of Road Environment Disorder on Traffic Law Violation Experience among Elderly Drivers

In the era of super-aging the increase in traffic violations by elderly drivers has become a social problem due to the interaction of complex factors such as the decline in physical and cognitive functions of elderly drivers and the perception of social and physical disorder in the road environment. This study aimed to analyze whether the perception of road environment disorder affects the experience of traffic violations among elderly drivers through an empirical study. The relationship between the experience of traffic law violations such as signal/speed violations, illegal/dangerous driving, alcohol/drug-related violations, aggressive/social violations, and other violations and the perception of physical disorder, social disorder, and danger in the road environment was examined using logistic regression analysis. The results showed that higher social disorder perception significantly increased the probability of experiencing signal and speed violations, illegal and dangerous driving, other violations, and overall traffic violations among older drivers. Physical disorder perception had a negative effect only on other violations, and risk perception had a significant positive effect only on aggressive and social violations. In addition, lower income, higher driving frequency, and lower education were associated with more traffic violations. This study suggests the need for improving social disorder in the road environment and customized traffic safety policies to prevent traffic violations among older drivers.