Tool to reduce elderly driving deaths nationwide

Medical school research leads to development of objective, commercially available simulator to evaluate older drivers

March 6, 2006

NORFOLK—Departments of motor vehicles nationwide will soon have a way to objectively assess the driving skills of older adults, thanks to an agreement between a national expert on elderly drivers and one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of driving simulators.

Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk and Raydon Corporation of Daytona Beach, Fla., announced Tuesday a licensing agreement for Raydon to develop a driver assessment program for the company’s commercial driving simulators based on a validated simulation driving assessment tool invented by one of the medical school’s geriatrics experts.

How to assess the driving abilities of seniors is an increasing challenge for American society. Age alone is not a reliable indicator. The onset of dementia and other illnesses can subtly but seriously impact the driving skills of some individuals when they are still in their 60s, while other individuals have outstanding driving skills in their 80s and beyond. The challenge is to find an objective, standardized, and practical method for reliably assessing the critical cognitive and motor skills needed for safe driving.

Barbara Freund, Ph.D., an associate professor at the medical school’s Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, is a nationally recognized researcher on driver safety among older adults. She developed a simulated driving assessment tool that objectively tests the cognitive and motor skills used in driving. Her computerized assessment tool has been validated against on-road assessments. The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) refers elderly drivers to Freund for evaluation.

“DMVs are looking for help on how to evaluate drivers objectively without penalizing them just because they’re old,” said Freund.

In addition to its leadership in the field of military simulation, Raydon Corporation is a leading developer and supplier of high-tech, low-cost driving simulators, which are currently used in dozens of states for novice driver education and driver improvement. Raydon has previously worked with organizations such as the National Safety Council on driving simulator programs.

“This validated assessment tool is a perfect complement to our other driving programs as we look to expand the use of Raydon’s commercial simulation technology and to provide affordable solutions for assessing driver performance,” said Don Ariel, Raydon co-founder and CEO.

Crash rates for drivers 75 and older are second only to the rates of drivers under 24, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Older driver involvement in fatal crashes is projected to increase 155 percent by 2030, accounting for 54 percent of the total projected increase in fatal crashes among all drivers.

“As the population ages, the percentage of older drivers increases and declining driver competence becomes an urgent public health problem,” said Freund.

Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have passed some form of elderly driver restrictions, including accelerated renewal procedures and requirements for vision tests. Two states, Illinois and New Hampshire, mandate road tests for drivers age 75 and older, but few DMVs have personnel trained to objectively evaluate older drivers.

“The DMV is primarily equipped to conduct road tests with novice drivers, not experienced older drivers,” said Freund. In most cases, DMVs refer evaluations to specialists trained to evaluate older drivers. That can be expensive and evaluations are not standardized.

Freund’s 30-minute driver evaluation program requires driving on suburban, urban and rural roads, with the execution of maneuvers likely to cause stress – for instance, avoiding a pedestrian on a highway. The program evaluates driver performance and categorizes drivers as either safe or unsafe. Because driving requires a range of cognitive functions, the simulator testing may bring attention to a previously undiagnosed cognitive impairment.

“Undiagnosed cognitive impairment and dementia are surprisingly prevalent among older apparently healthy individuals,” Freund said. “This may allow us to recognize the impairment early on and refer the person for treatment. The overall goal of the older driver research program is to assist older adults to continue driving as late in life as possible, as long as they can do so safely.”

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