Who drives safely? Visual/cognitive predictors in Elders

描述：（由申请人提供）驾驶汽车是老年人保持独立性和行动能力的主要因素。失去驾驶特权和由此产生的依赖性是老龄化的一个非常可怕的后果，这可能导致即使在那些撞车风险很高的人中也会继续驾驶。避免高风险情况以及注意驾驶表现和其他补偿策略是允许有限制的老年驾驶员在被禁止的情况下继续安全驾驶的行为。因此，有很大的兴趣，在确定的因素，预测采用补偿驾驶策略。 在这个项目中，一个多学科的团队将确定视觉和认知的作用，感知的限制，和替代驾驶，在采用补偿驾驶策略在4年内，纵向研究的老年人口在索尔兹伯里，MD。将确定三组老年驾驶员：第一组：视力正常和孤独的人;第三组：视力缺陷和视觉注意力缺陷的人。所有群体都包括那些在认知测试中有缺陷的人。驾驶行为将随着时间的推移进行评估，使用一种新的系统，允许被动记录研究参与者的实际驾驶行为。 特别是，视力，对比敏感度，视野和视觉注意力的缺陷，以及这些措施随着时间的推移的变化，被假设为影响采用补偿驾驶策略或驾驶停止此外，认知状态，以及对限制的洞察力，被假设为这种关系的预测因子和效应修饰因子。最后，本研究将确定补偿驾驶策略的采用以及哪些策略会影响碰撞风险。具体目标如下：1）确定老年驾驶员群体的驾驶特征，并将驾驶模式与视觉，认知和感知特征相关联。2)纵向确定视觉和认知障碍以及障碍的变化如何导致采用补偿驾驶策略，以及3）确定四年前瞻性组成部分中每个风险组采用补偿驾驶策略以及对驾驶员错误率和碰撞风险的影响。 这项研究将提供关键数据的视觉，视觉注意力和认知在改变老年人驾驶行为的互动作用，以及由此产生的影响，对司机的错误和撞车的风险。

DESCRIPTION: (provided by applicant) Driving an automobile is a major factor in the maintenance of independence and mobility among older persons. Loss of driving privileges and resultant dependencies are a greatly feared consequence of aging, which can lead to continued driving even among those at high risk of crashes. Avoidance of high- risk situations as well as attention to driving performance and other compensatory strategies are behaviors that allow older drivers with limitations to continue driving safely under proscribed circumstances. Thus, there is much interest in determining the factors that predict adoption of compensatory driving strategies. In this project, a multi-disciplinary team will determine the role of vision and cognition, perception of limitations, and alternatives to driving, in adoption of compensatory driving strategies within a 4 year, longitudinal study of an older population in Salisbury, MD. Three groups of older drivers will be identified: Group One: those with normal vision and alone; Group Three: those with both visual deficits and deficits in visual attention. All groups include those with deficits in the tests of cognition. Driving behaviors will be assessed over time, using a novel system that allows passive recording of actual driving behavior by the study participant. In particular, deficits in acuity, contrast sensitivity, visual fields, and visual attention, and changes in these measures over time, are hypothesized to affect adoption of compensatory driving strategies or driving cessation in addition, cognitive status, as well as insight into limitations, are hypothesized to be both predictors and effect modifiers of this relationship. Finally, the study will determine how adoption of compensatory driving strategies, and which strategies, affect crash risk. The specific aims are as follows: 1) To determine the driving characteristics of the cohort of older drivers, and associate patterns of driving with visual, cognitive, and perceptual characteristics. 2) To determine longitudinally how vision and cognition impairments, and change in impairments, result in adoption of compensatory driving strategies, and 3) To determine for each risk group over the four-year prospective component, the adoption of compensatory driving strategies and resulting effect on driver error rates and crash risk. This study will provide critical data on the interactive role of vision, visual attention, and cognition in changing older persons driving behaviors, and the resulting effect on driver errors and risk of crashes.