The use of neuropsychological tests to study the effects of aging on driving performance in the UK

Abstract

Research was conducted to identify a series of neuropsychological tests to assess the ability to drive. Driving performance of young and old UK drivers was modeled through multiple linear regression and univariate logistic regression tools. The UFOV3 test (i.e. the third subtest of the UFOV test) had comparatively high discriminating ability in separating poor-drivers from notpoor-drivers, with 92.86% of the drivers correctly classified; the UFOV3 test resulted in a Sensitivity of 62.5%. Age and a composite cognitive measure were also found to be sound discriminators of poor-drivers and not-poor-drivers with 91.07% and 89.28% of the drivers correctly classified respectively; both age and the composite cognitive measure resulted in a Sensitivity of 50%. It was found that the commonly recommended Clock Drawing Test and the Trail Making-B test were insignificant predictors of driving ability. Results suggest that for a score greater than 220 on the UFOV3 test, the driver may be further evaluated by a driving specialist to ascertain questionable driving behavior. Also, drivers above the age of 77 were more susceptible to exhibiting unusual driving behavior; if such drivers have UFOV3 scores greater than 220 it would be more appropriate to evaluate driving behavior through a driving specialist.

Ageing and Driving Performance in the UK Using Normal Mixture Model Cluster Analysis Technique

“…Onroad driving evaluation gauged through an index has shown significant Pearson correlation with driving performance on the simulator (Casutt et al, 2014). Henceforth, the STISIM® simulator was selected to achieve the research objectives (Khan et al 2018).…”

“…In this context, a 21-mile drive (designated as Drive-I) was designed having a duration of 40 minutes with numerous hazardous, unexpected driving scenarios embedded within normal driving routines. To give drivers an idea about the magnitude of their speed, the road alignment was studded with telephone poles at 200 ft spacing beyond the shoulders (Khan, 2009, Khan et al 2018.…”

“…Due to the workload from competing sources (within the DA and CF drive), it is not possible for the driver to respond in an optimum manner to the primary task (driving) and secondary task (e.g., DA task) and one or both are bound to suffer. This trade-off can be measured and may show up as degraded performance on a variety of driving proficiency parameters, for example, increase in reaction time, nonadherence to lane discipline or speed observance (Khan, 2009, Khan et al 2018).…”

“…Within the driving population, a considerable proportion is exhibiting decline in cognitive abilities relevant to driving. Fatality risk of older drivers is reported to be around 3 folds that of the middle-aged group (Cheung & McCartt, 2011;Khan et al 2018). Older healthy drivers perform the driving task at a level that is comparable with healthy young adults.…”

“…Older healthy drivers perform the driving task at a level that is comparable with healthy young adults. Since dementing illnesses are common in old age, certain proportions of older drivers are in the early stages of a dementing illness or already clinically demented (Khan et al 2018).…”