MAG Hosts National Conference on Elderly Mobility
Expert Says "Sense
of Emergency" Needed for Senior Transportation Issues
PHOENIX (January 14, 2001) — Someone turns 50 every seven seconds in the United States. Responding to the transportation challenges caused by an aging population will be the focus of a National Conference on Aging & Mobility: Senior Mobility in the 21st Century – What Can We Do to Prepare?
The conference will be hosted by the Maricopa Association of Governments March 25-27, 2002 at the Doubletree La Posada Resort, 4949 E. Lincoln Drive, Scottsdale.
The conference was organized with the recognition that the transportation challenges associated with an aging population are common concerns for communities across the nation. Sessions will cover diverse subjects in the areas of transportation planning and project design, land use, alternative transportation modes, and older driver competency.
"We need to herald a sense of emergency at this meeting,"
says Dr. Joseph Coughlin, Director of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology Age Lab, who will be a keynote speaker at the conference.
"Transportation is an infrastructure that by its very nature
takes years to put in place. The fastest-growing demographic in
the United States is the aging baby boomer. Even if we start today,
we won't see the benefits for 10 years, and the baby boomers will
already be on top of us," he says.
Dr. Coughlin says the problem goes well beyond helping seniors get to the doctor's office or grocery store.
"Seniors will find a way to make those priority trips,"
he says. "But the trips that really keep them happy and healthy
– getting a haircut when they need it, visiting friends,
going out to eat, window shopping – it's that personal independence
of going where you want, when you want, how you want, that makes
transportation so important to keeping seniors healthy."
Instead, says Dr. Coughlin, seniors find themselves abandoned
in the American Dream, isolated in suburban homes, deteriorating
emotionally and physically.
Dr. Coughlin is just one of more than 40 featured speakers at the conference. Yale University Professor Richard Marottoli, who chairs the Transportation Research Board Committee on the Safe Mobility of Older Persons, will discuss national perspectives for improving elderly mobility and safety.
"As the population ages, more people will be faced with
the decision of when to limit or stop driving and how to meet
their transportation and mobility needs when they do," he
says. "The challenge to
individuals and to society is how to make this transition as seamless
as possible, while maintaining safety, autonomy, mobility, and
activity levels as much as possible."
The Maricopa Association of Governments is leading a national
call for action on elderly mobility. MAG has challenged Metropolitan
Planning Organizations around the United States to make elderly
mobility a critical planning issue. A main focus of the conference
will be to develop a national legislative agenda on aging and
mobility issues for the reauthorization of the Transportation
Equity Act of the 21st Century, the nation's guiding transportation
law.
MAG has developed a Regional Action Plan on Aging & Mobility. The plan contains 25 recommendations for improving mobility for seniors, focusing on four key areas: infrastructure and land use improvements; alternative transportation modes; older driver competency; and education and training. These recommendations will be presented as a potential regional model during the conference.
To arrange media coverage, please contact Kelly Taft at (602) 452-5020. To register, contact Brande Meade at (602) 254-6300.