2005 Massachusetts AARP Driver Safety Program Graduates and Non-Graduates Study

This study of the AARP Driver Safety Program (DSP) was jointly designed and conducted by AARP and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) AgeLab to identify what, if any, differences there are between AARP members in Massachusetts who had ever taken a DSP course and those who had never taken one.

Since Massachusetts is one of the few states not offering an insurance discount to DSP graduates and has the lowest penetration of AARP members taking a DSP course, it provided a unique opportunity to identify differences between those taking the course and those not doing so.

Among the study’s key findings:

• Those more likely to take a DSP course believe that their driving could be improved and that the course could help them. As a result of taking the course, graduates are more likely than non-graduates to believe that their driving skills had improved over the past five years.
  
• Non-graduates are more likely than graduates to be extremely confident in their driving ability, find driving an extremely enjoyable activity and actually drive more days per week.

The mail survey of 1,151 AARP members – almost half of whom had taken a DSP course and over half of whom had not – was conducted during November 2005. Further information about the study may be obtained from the report’s author, Gail Kutner, at 202-434-6325. (29 pages)