AARP

They may be remembered as the driving-est generation. Baby Boomers, who came of age in the heyday of suburbia, have always driven more than any other generation. At the height of their driving years, boomers averaged 51 miles per day. They continue to drive 17 percent more than all other age groups, according to a recent report from AARP.

Just days after 81-year-old Luis Ruiz was fatally struck by two drivers on Rockaway Parkway in Canarsie, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign has released a report showing that his death is not an aberration. Between 2008 and 2010, 435 pedestrians aged 60 or older were killed in collisions with cars in New Jersey, Connecticut and downstate New York. All told, fatality rates for older pedestrians in this region are higher than the national average.

Streetfilms teamed up with the Public Policy Institute at AARP to bring you a look at how Arlington, Virginia plans for its senior population using transit-oriented development (TOD).  Arlington has been practicing TOD since the late 1970s, when Washington's Metrorail first began service there, and it's proved very effective in accommodating the population growth of this inner suburb.

According to AARP, 88 percent of seniors want to stay in their own homes as long as they can. But where are those homes? In auto-dependent suburbs. That’s where most Baby Boomers grew up, in the postwar era, and that’s where most of them have stayed – even as the largest (and longest-living) generation ever enters its golden years.

Electeds and other officials gathered with representatives from AARP today to pledge support for street improvements and to call on Albany to pass complete streets legislation.

Hours after the Tri-State Transportation Campaign released a report yesterday identifying New York's deadliest roads, 13 AARP volunteers surveyed part of Third Avenue in an effort to make walking in New York safer.

AARP announced today that it will join the Transportation for America campaign to advocate for a "broad restructuring" of national transportation policy. In a letter sent to Congressional leaders last week [PDF], AARP said that it is "working to enable older adults to live independently in their homes and communities throughout their lifespan, and transportation is critical to maintaining the community connections that make that possible."