DRIVER CAPABILITIES

Safe driving relies on key skills involving visual, cognitive, and physical capabilities. Impairments in these functional capabilities can occur at any age but are more prevalent in the older population. A large body of research over the past decade has demonstrated that certain functional impairments in older drivers elevate crash risk and have a negative impact on driving performance. A clear understanding about how diminished capabilities contribute to crash risk in older drivers would greatly facilitate society's efforts to develop strategies for reducing crash rates in this population and to enhance driving mobility. Certain medical conditions also affect driving in older adults (a) by engendering functional problems and (b) through the side-effects of the medications used in treatment. The role of medical factors is addressed in another paper in these proceedings. This paper addresses the major advances over the past decade in understanding how diminished capabilities in the older population affect driver safety and performance, and how these advances point toward research priorities for the future.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/conf/reports/cp_27.pdf
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  • Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
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• Authors:
  • Owsley, C
• Conference:
  • Transportation in an Aging Society: A Decade of Experience
  • Location: Bethesda Maryland, United States
  • Date: 1999-11-7 to 1999-11-9
• Publication Date: 2004

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 44-55
• Monograph Title: TRANSPORTATION IN AN AGING SOCIETY: A DECADE OF EXPERIENCE. TECHNICAL PAPERS AND REPORTS FROM A CONFERENCE, NOVEMBER 7-9, 1999, BETHESDA, MARYLAND
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Board Conference Proceedings
  • Issue Number: 27
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 1073-1652

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged drivers; Cognition; Crash rates; Future; Mobility; Motor skills; Performance; Research; Safety; Vision
• Subject Areas: Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00974943
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309077451
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jun 24 2004 12:00AM