Efficacy, national/international practices and motivational factors of lifelong driver education for the aging population

In a society facing a significant increase in its aging population, older driver education/training is emerging as a potential solution to help seniors drive more safely, thus maintaining their mobility and quality of life. Nonetheless, sufficient evidence has not emerged directly linking such programs to significant reductions in accident rates for seniors. But older driver education has produced certain outcomes that have been indirectly linked to driver safety. Among these secondary outcomes that led to significant reductions in crash rates are increases in self-regulation (i.e., modifying driving behavior to compensate for certain physical limitations) and a measure of visual/perceptual ability called Useful Field of View (UFOV). Despite some questions surrounding the efficacy of these programs, older driver courses are offered in the United States and internationally among various countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Many of the courses address similar core topics such as the effects on driving from certain physiological, cognitive changes that accompany aging. On the other hand, the programs can vary more on structural/administrative factors. For example, many courses in Europe offer behind the wheel training to supplement the material learned in the classroom.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Israels, Richard (Richard Steven)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Joseph F. Coughlin.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34606

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34606