The challenge of safe driving among elderly drivers

Abstract

The challenge of ageing has two key aspects with regard to driving: mobility and safety. It is necessary for elderly adults to preserve independent mobility and activity; however, physical frailty and cognitive limitations have negative effects on their safety. Therefore, the issue of driving, and more specifically, the fostering of safe driving of old people, is crucial, especially due the increasing number of elderly people holding a driving license. The purpose of this Letter is to point out the complexity of elderly driving and to suggest countermeasures by acknowledging that obtaining the correct balance between safety and mobility of older drivers is a complicated and sensitive task. To address this issue, the authors suggest accommodating their driving behaviour and patterns, in light of the deteriorating driving skills, by integrating social and policy procedures and use of emerging technologies. Policy steps to support elderly drivers and their loved ones by gradually controlling driving of elderly population when this becomes risky to them may serve as a desired countermeasure according to a proved tool such as technology. Utilisation of advanced technologies can help to monitor travel and driver behaviour and ability to make the necessary alterations, based on elderly driving skills.

Driving License Corroborator using Internet of Things and Data Mining Techniques

“…Gila Albert et al [4] proposed that the statistics and studies are unclear regarding whether the rate of car crashes is higher for Elderly drivers in comparison to other age groups. In Israel, the rate of fatality and severe injury in road crashes among the age group 65 and above is meaningfully higher than their share in the population, especially when travel mileage (relatively Low for elderly drivers) is taken into consideration.…”

“…Transient storage facility is used to store user details which become non-permanent [4].  Identity verification using cameras is costly and the social acceptance among the people is medium-low.…”

Age-Related Differences in the Cognitive, Visual, and Temporal Demands of In-Vehicle Information Systems

“…Because the duration of secondary task activities is greater for older than for younger drivers, age-related differences are expected to increase as the complexity of the secondary task increases. New in-vehicle systems and other secondary task activities may be especially problematic for older drivers (Albert et al, 2018). Ongoing research seeks to understand age-related differences in multitasking (Clapp et al, 2011) and the technology barriers that older drivers encounter (Vaportzis et al, 2017).…”

Geronsafety

“…Aging research is increasing due to the increasing elderly population and these studies are socially prominent. The negative effects of biological and physical factors on aging have been replaced by social, psychological and psychosocial factors [1][2][3][4]. This is due to developing technology and innovations brought by the digital age.…”

“…Apart from the many innovations brought about by the Internet, significant risks have also arisen. Safety is the most important of these risks [2][3][4][5]. Safety is crucial on adaptation of elderly individuals to their environment, their ability to carry out their daily activities, monitoring elderly individuals closely.…”