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DRIVER ABILITIES
Perception• vision• hearing• touch• balance• proprioception
Motor control• size/reach• strength• endurance• stability
Driving - a cognitive task of control in a context perceived by our senses, modified by psychomotor actions
Neisser’s pragmatic definition of cognition
Driving as a cognitive task!Cognition• memory• attention (execution) • mental modells
CHANGES DUE TO AGING
Declining abilities Traffic change, technology change Perceived problems (intersections, nigh time driving
etc.)
Defensive driving Self regulation –> driving cessation Vulnerable road user (pedestrian, public transport)
Question:Can education/training contribute to sustained
safe mobility and independence? 3
LITERATURE REVIEW
Norwegian Road Administration -> SafeMove Articles published 1999 – 2009 – update to
2012 Older healthy drivers (no stroke, dementia,
etc.) 80 papers identified - 20-25 interesting Most US, Canada, Australia Basically nothing from Europe Mainly theoretical courses Lack of theory on older driver training! 5
CLASSIFICATION
General education/trainingGeneral knowledge on aging and trainingPhysical training (e.g. mobility, strength,
reaction)Perceptual training (mainly visual UFOV)Cognitive training (e.g. single/dual task,
attention (execution), memory training)
Traffic specific education/trainingTheoreticalPracticalCombination Theory and Practice 6
TRAINING AND EDUCATION METHODS (TRAFFIC)
Theoretical education Classroom teaching Web-based (same as the classroom, but no personal
interaction and learner controls the pace yourself) Interactive CBT (Computer Based Training) to draw more
benefit from the possibilities of using computer-based training.
Peer to peer
Practical teaching (traffic) Driving in real traffic Closed track training Simulator based training
Combination of theory and practice
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EVALUATION OF EFFECTS
Safety vs. mobility Transfer effects
Knowledge -> behavioural change? Self awareness -> behavioural change? Generic ability training -> behavioural change? Simulator based training -> on the road? Training of specific situations -> other (similar)
situations?
Durability effects Duration of behavioural change? How to maintain changes (use it or loose it!)? Declining abilities and training durability? 8
REVIEWS OF EVALUATIONS
Review 1 ((Kua et al., 2007) (Canada)) review of 8 studies until 2004 education has a positive effect on attention and driving
performance (medium) physical and perceptual training (low) no safety effects (accidents)
Review 2 ((Korner-Bitensky, 2009) (Canada)) Follow-up 2004 – 2008, 4 studies combination theory and practise positive effect on driver
performance (strong) and knowledge (medium) physical training positive effect on driving performance
(medium) no safety effects (accidents)
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PROSPECTIVE PARTICIPANTS IN A THEORETICAL COURSE (TUOKKO ET AL., 2007)
Willingness and openness to change 86 prospective participants in a theoretical course – most
women most interested in mobility and less safety men more reluctant to change their behaviour than
women men more frequent drunk driving than women women believe that the decision to drive is a family
business, unlike men who think it is a personal decision
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GENERAL TRAINING – PHYSICAL TRAINING
Physical training (Marottoli et al., 2007) 178 drivers + 70 y physical disabilities - otherwise healthy Physical training (case) Theoretical safety education (control) Before/after driving test on the road Physical training resulted in improved driving performance,
fewer errors, but no difference to control group — 3 months after
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GENERAL TRAINING – PERCEPTION/COGNITION
Driving is a visually demanding task UFOV (useful field of view) scoring
Experimental group UFOV low increased risk (70 drivers) UFOV training – generic Simulator based training + theory – specific
Control group UFOV high low risk (24 drivers) No training
Results Simulator based training improved what was trained UFOV training not specific improvements but more persistent
improvements 18 month follow up confirmed the findings
Roenker et al. (2003)
UFOV training provided sustained (3 years) mobility improvements
Edwards et al (2009)
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GENERAL TRAINING - COGNITION
Cognitive training (Cassavaugh and Kramer (2009))
Theoretical framework for training of older drivers CBT (attention, memory, and motor control)
1. Tracking task2. Visual selective attention task (similar to UFOV)3. Visual–spatial N-back task (working memory task)4. Dual task (tracking task combined with 2 or 3)
Training resulted in improved driving performanceTraining outcome could be predicted from initial
resultsRather simple cognitive training can improve
driving performance 13
TRAFFIC SPECIFIC EDUCATION &TRAINING – THEORETICAL COURSES
o Theoretical courses for older drivers (US and Canada) – most common course! Class room teaching (4 – 8 h) Web based alternative Sometimes combined with practice Regularly evaluated (questionnaires) Highly appreciated Wives persuades their husbands Improved performance more frequent among females Older drivers change (subjectively) most Common changes: check blind spots, distance keeping,
entering and leaving motorways, give way No clear evidence of improved safe mobility One tentative exception – Norwegian 65+ (Ulleberg)
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TRAFFIC SPECIFIC EDUCATION &TRAINING – THEORETICAL COURSE
Theoretical course for older drivers 884 persons (average 75 years)Accident involvement before/afterRandom individually matched control groupsCourse participants more accidents than controlsOlder participants more accidents after Younger males, slightly lower than controlsThree groups: perfect, pre-crashers, crashers Crasher remembered less from the course and
believed that other road users were causing the accidents not them selves
Education resistant? Or Inappropriate education?Canada - Nasvadi &Vavrik (2007)
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TRAFFIC SPECIFIC TRAINING & EDUCATION – THEORY & PRACTICE
Combination of theory and practice 8 h theory, 2 h driving Objective to Change behaviour Before/after case control Better mobility and safer driving — no accident monitoring
Similar study showed that the improvement in driving performance remained even after 3 months
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CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER WORK
Can education/training contribute to sustained safe mobility and independence?
Overall Positive effect on performance – specifically subjective No clear effect on safety - methodological problem or course design?
General education/training Cognitive training has a good potential Individually adapted training (needs and abilities)
Traffic specific education/training ”Standard” theoretical courses – limited effect Combination of theory and practice preferable Consider individual differences
Further work Theoretical foundation on aging and learning missing Consider new findings in neuropsychology Evaluation methods and course design need to be further developed 17
SAFEMOVE – SWEDISH – FRENCH COLLABORATION
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Survey of elderly (+70y) license holders (3000 + 1200) Mobility, personality, health, cognitive ability etc. On road testing with a smaller sample Identify over and under estimators of driving performance
Simulator based training Design and evaluate training based on identified needs and
abilities Aiming to calibrate drivers (i.e. improve safety for over
estimators and improve mobility for under estimators)
Driver support systems Survey on needs and preferences Develop demonstrators Perform test with demonstrators