The effects of driving cessation

Driving cessation is likely to reduce mobility and negatively affect the quality of life. The consequences have been described to be mostly negative (for an overview see: [52][50]. Driving cessation has been found to reduce the number of out-of-home activities [71] and to be related to increased depression [37]. It has also been argued that giving up driving has a negative impact on an older person’s identity, his feeling of independence, and his dignity [8] [14][16][28][89]. These negative feelings are related to having to give up something that has been a large part of their adult life and was closely identified with their perceived roles in family and society. Having ceased driving, most people dislike asking for rides. To keep their dignity, people often insist that they provide some reciprocal service (cooking a meal, babysitting) or gift in return for the ride [13][16].