Procedures for Testing Older Driving Capabilities

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary objective of this proposed project is to develop a low-cost driving simulator that can be used for screening and potentially retraining the psychomotor, attentional and cognitive skills of older drivers. This development will build on an already existing device that has been used to assess driver behavior impaired by alcohol and fatigue and to train novice drivers. The simulation device is intended to have well developed and sensitive measurement paradigms for assessing psychomotor, attentional and cognitive skills, which have been developed in prior research. The motivation for this development is the growing concern for improving the safety and mobility of older drivers. The basic hardware and software technology for a low cost driving simulation has already been developed and found to be sensitive to driver age. A Phase I feasibility study has shown that efficient test procedures can result in sensitive detection of age impaired driving skills. In this Phase II SBIR project we propose to: 1) further refine the simulator physical format and the driving scenarios and measurement paradigms to asses the psychomotor, attentional and cognitive skills of drivers in critical road and traffic situations; 2) conduct a large study with middle aged and older driver groups to validate the expanded simulation capabilities for screening and training the safety related skills of older drivers.