The purpose of this study was to identify psychological determinants of driving avoidance and intention of driving cessation in older adults using the Health Belief Model.　One hundred and fifty five male drivers aged 70-79 years residing in suburbs of Tokyo completed questionnaires, the Useful Field of View^® test and Mini-Mental State Examination.　Driving avoidance was predicted by several factors : 1） perceived susceptibility to crash involvement, 2） perceived benefits of self-regulatory driving, and 3） perceived barriers of self-regulatory driving.　We also found that intention of driving cessation was predicted by perceived susceptibility to crash involvement.　Perceived severity of crash involvement was not associated with either driving avoidance or intention of driving cessation.　Self-rated driving ability was negatively associated with perceived susceptibility to crash involvement and was not correlated with functional performance.　We suggest that interventions dealing with both the advantages and disadvantages of self-regulatory driving will be most efficacious in promoting driving avoidance.　However, interventions that focus only on susceptibility to crash involvement may increase premature driving cessation.　Our findings may inform effective interventions for older drivers to delay premature driving cessation and promote adaptive driving avoidance.

There are a few study in Japan on the change of safety attitude before and after the “course for suspended license offenders”. Although it is optional for offenders, whose driver’s license is suspended, to attend the course, the effectiveness of the course has been an interest in social science and also in the practical utilization of this system.

In this study, a pre- and post-lecture attitude examination of the offenders with suspended licenses were performed for a total statistics of 290 testes. （30 days: n = 96, 60 days: n = 85, 90-180 days: n = 109）.　The dedicated items for this questionnaire were made for this purpose.　A positive effect of attendance was shown through factor analysis and pre- and post-questionnaire comparison.　In particular, 1） antisocial driving attitudes significantly decreased, 2） rule attitude significantly improved, and 3） consciousness of mutual compromise significantly improved.　The results also imply the utility of the suspended license offender’s course as a means of remedial education.

The National Police Agency database of injury and fatal accidents in Japan during 2001-2014 was analyzed to examine accident risk factors that characterize older drivers.　This study investigated relations between age and accident rates associated with driver-related accident factors of four categories : lack of safety confirmation, front carelessness, misjudgment, and driving maneuver error.　Accident rates were calculated using the quasi-induced exposure method, which used not-at-fault driver data as an exposure measure.　Age differences in accident rates were assessed.　The older age group showed higher accident rates for every driver-related accident factor with advanced age.　The accident rate related to driving maneuver errors, most importantly pedal errors, became higher with advanced age more remarkably than other factors.　Additional analyses compared accident rates related to pedal errors while advancing straight in a lane with acceleration, constant speed, and deceleration.　The results support the hypothesis that pedal errors of older drivers are related to age-related decline in inhibitory function.　The mechanism causing pedal errors of older drivers with poor inhibitory function is discussed.