Assisting the older driver - SWOV

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General introduction General introduction This doctoral thesis is concerned with the possibilities offered by road design and driver assistance systems to improve older adults’ safe and independent mobility by compensating for their age‐related functional limitations. The focus is on drivers of private cars aged 75 years and above. In this thesis, this group of drivers is called ‘older drivers’. When referring to the mere age group, the interchangeable terms ‘older adults’ and ‘older people’ are used. The specific attention for the age group of 75 years and above originates in the relatively high fatality rate for drivers of this age. An extensive analysis of the safety of older drivers is part of this thesis (Chapter 1). Among others, their safety is described in terms of involvement in crashes and resulting injuries. The term ‘accidents’ is deliberately not used in this thesis, as it suggests that the events had to do with bad luck and were thus not preventable (Davis & Pless, 2001). Most injuries and their precipitating events are, however, predictable and preventable. In fact, specific preventive measures are the main topic of this thesis. Therefore, the terms ‘crash’ and ‘collision’ will be used instead of the term ‘accident’. Age‐related functional limitations play a central role in the search for measures that can extend the older adult’s safe and independent mobility. Their influence on driving performance directs the selection of measures in this thesis. A functional limitation is not a clearly defined term in itself. However, it can be regarded as a synonym for the term “impairment” used by the WHO in its International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (known as ICF; WHO, 2001). Impairments refer to symptoms or characteristics that can be directly related to the “body level”, that is, having a physiological or anatomical causation. They can consist of a defect, lack or loss of, or reduction in for example visual performance, information processing speed or attentional capacity. According to the ICF, impairments can lead to activity limitations and participation restrictions. Activity limitations are difficulties an individual may have in executing activities of daily life which are important for independent functioning, such as driving a car or having a telephone conversation (Brouwer, Van Zomeren, Berg, Bouma & De Haan, 2002; WHO, 2001). Participation restrictions are problems an individual may experience in involvement in life situations, such as going to the bridge club or maintaining a friendship (WHO, 2001). These participation restrictions indicate a loss or significant deficiency in a social 11
Assisting the older driver role which is normal for a person’s age and social position (Brouwer et al., 2002). Both activity limitations and participation restrictions can be resolved by assistive devices or personal assistance. While neither devices nor personal assistance eliminate the impairments, they may remove limitations on functioning in specific domains (WHO, 2001). The influence of age‐related functional limitations on driver safety can be reduced in several ways. First of all, drivers can compensate for their functional limitations by avoiding difficult driving circumstances such as driving during peak hours, darkness or bad weather conditions. Secondly, the driving task can be made easier by simplifying traffic situations, by personal assistance in the car, or by improving driver performance through education. Thirdly, increased crash rates as a result of functional limitations can be prevented by assessing persons’ fitness to drive. If, from a safety point of view, driving is no longer justified, ex‐drivers must be supported in swapping the car for other modes of transport. Although all of the abovementioned compensation strategies reduce the influence that functional limitations have on driver safety, not all of them resolve the activity limitations and participation restrictions to which functional limitations might lead. Some of them might even increase them by restricting driving. Measures that are specifically aimed at removing limitations and restrictions on a person’s functioning as a driver, are those mentioned under the heading of making the driving task easier: simplifying traffic situations, providing personal assistance in the car, and education. Whereas Withaar (2000) describes ways to improve selection and training procedures as means to compensate for functional limitations, the aim of this thesis is to determine the extent to which road design and in‐car driver assistance systems can compensate for functional limitations that affect road safety. Three central research questions can be distinguished. The first question is a general one: how can the safety of older drivers be characterised, and which characteristics of older people may be of influence on their driving performance. The second question is which age‐related functional limitations have the greatest influence on driving performance and road safety. The third question is what road design elements and driver assistance systems may compensate for these functional limitations. In order to answer the first question, various aspects of older drivers are described: their current fatality and injury rates, the types of crashes they are involved in, and their general physical and mental state. The second question 12
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Advanced driver assistance systems
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Assisting the older driver (Eds.),
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Assisting the older driver Withaar,
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Assisting the older driver Appendix
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Samenvatting Samenvatting Dit proef
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Samenvatting Verkeersveiligheidsmaa
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Samenvatting jongere automobilisten
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Samenvatting voordeel dat ze de rij
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Dankwoord Dankwoord Het schrijven v
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Curriculum Vitae Curriculum Vitae R
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Assisting the older driver Nottingh
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