#Older driver assessment drivers
“These accidents and violations, which occur more commonly with advanced age, are closely related to driving behavior characteristic of elderly drivers such as errors of cognition or decision, that is, to the decline in driving ability that comes with age,” the study reports.
#Older driver assessment simulator
Ultimately, researchers hoped to develop a system to comprehensively measure vital driving functions, contribute to driving aptitude tests and self-awareness for the elderly, and help the elderly maintain their driving ability through reeducation and with virtual driving simulator training. Cognitive and decision performance – including visuo-spatial perception at intersections and decline of attentiveness.Visual performance – measuring peripheral vision loss caused by aging.The goal was to comprehensively measure the essential functions needed for safe driving. Researchers used video simulations of actual driving situations to develop an experimental system. “To reduce the number of accidents involving elderly drivers, it is critical that, beginning early in middle age, drivers undergo regular assessments of driving ability (particularly visual, cognitive and decision performance), are aware of their own abilities and driving aptitude, and maintain and improve their driving ability through reeducation and training.” “Although driving ability decreases with advanced age, few elderly people recognize the decline in their own visual, cognitive and decision performance this lack of awareness is a major cause of accidents,” the study suggested. In that country, traffic accidents caused by elderly drivers resulting in personal injury or death had nearly tripled between 19 and elderly drivers totaled more than 40 percent of all traffic fatalities in 2008.Īlthough driving assessments typically do not begin until advanced age, this study suggested that regular assessments should be performed beginning in middle age.
One study out of Japan looked at methods for assessing the driving ability of the elderly and explored thoughts on its systematization. Many of those millions of elderly drivers are perfectly fit to drive.īut how can we know for sure whether it’s time for them to stop driving? Driving Evaluation for Elderly/h2> More than 40 million licensed drivers are age 65 or older in the United States. That means, on average, 16 older adults are killed and 648 people are injured every single day in the U.S. More than 5,700 older adults were reportedly killed as a result of motor vehicle crashes in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Īnother 236,000 people were treated in emergency departments as a result of car crashes involving elderly drivers.