About the Summit

 

This event marks the second annual Senior Safe Mobility Summit hosted by the Older Californian Traffic Safety (OCTS) Task Force. The Summit will feature a wide array of subject matter experts who will provide informative and pertinent presentations concerning older adult traffic safety/mobility efforts in the state. The one and one-half day event will serve to heighten the public’s awareness of important senior safety/mobility programs designed to serve older Californians as drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.

 

Statistically, California’s senior population (65 and older), now numbering 4 million, will grow to 5.2 million in 2020 and 9 million a decade after that. The number of licensed drivers within this age group will ascend in parallel; growing from today’s 2 ¾ million to 4 million in 2020, and 6 million in 2030.

 

Due to the expected “senior tsunami,” California began its leadership role in older driver safety in 2002. A task force comprised of older adult traffic safety stakeholders began its first attempt at addressing older driver safety in California. The task force created a conceptual framework identifying seven major recommendations and 50+ action items. In 2003, a subsequent task force was created to address these recommendations. This second group was titled Older Californian Traffic Safety (OCTS) Task Force, which was comprised of public and private organizations and charged with implementation of the action plan developed by the previous task force.

 

Since its first meeting, the OCTS Task Force has successfully met many of the initial task force’s objectives. Additionally, the strength of the OCTS Task Force effort has allowed individual partner organizations to widely disseminate their older adult safety/mobility programs to a larger audience. As a result, the safety of California’s seniors has been markedly enhanced by the collaborative effort of the OCTS Task Force.

 

To highlight these efforts, partner organization disciplines will be represented at the Summit. Topics from the perspective of law enforcement, health professionals, aging professionals, licensing officials, educators, and traffic engineers will be featured. This Summit is intended to increase the older adult stakeholder and public awareness of the OCTS Task Force’s highly successful older adult traffic safety/mobility programs. The Summit is further intended to encourage the incorporation of these programs into local, county, and statewide operations.

 

Who Should Attend

 

Summit presentations will benefit everyone involved with seniors: Area Agencies on Aging, senior center personnel, traffic engineers, driver safety officers and other licensing personnel, doctors and the entire health care community, law enforcement departments, aging interest groups, and the general public.