Older Drivers Car Accidents' Risks

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MANY OLDER DRIVERS AT SIMILAR RISK FOR CAR ACCIDENTS
AS NEWLY LICENSED 16 YEAR OLDS, STUDY FINDS

Automobiles Are Inspected With Much Greater
Scrutiny Than the Drivers of Those Automobiles, Claim Authors

SAN FRANCISCO -- Licensed older drivers (over 60) in the United
States have increased by almost 50 percent since 1985, according to
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Most of
these drivers are safe drivers, but older adults with cognitive
impairments and those above age 80 have a much higher risk for causing
and/or being in a car accident, say psychologists who have been
studying the determinants of auto safety in older drivers. These
findings will be presented at the 106th Annual Convention of the
American Psychological Association in San Francisco.

"These older adults with impairments are much more likely than
younger adults to have crashes during daylight hours, on weekdays, in
intersections, turning left and when merging," say neuropsychologists
Robert Fields, Ph.D., of Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh and
Gale Valtinson, Ph.D., of the Biscayne Rehabilitation Institute in
Miami. Furthermore, adults over the age of 80 have higher fatality
rates (per miles driven) than any other age group except for
16-year-olds, according to the NHTSA.

Dr. Fields and colleagues contacted the Department of Motor
Vehicles in all 50 states to find out what state policies existed for
older drivers. "The findings were all over the map, literally," said
Dr. Fields. "An example is the lack of uniformity in the driver
renewal process. States vary tremendously in the number of years
between renewals, the age at which any increased scrutiny of an older
driver's abilities is initiated, whether the driver must renew in
person, the types of driving fitness tests required (if any at all),
and the nature and extent of any medical information which must be
forwarded to the state."

The state with the most stringent standards is Illinois, which
established empirically based graduated licensing for both younger and
older drivers. At age 75, all Illinois drivers must renew their
license in person and must take a vision and road test. In contrast,
there are states like Oklahoma, where no medical information and no
tests of ability are required to renew a license.

Somewhat surprisingly, there has been a recent trend toward
lengthening the renewal period and reducing the assessment procedures
for older drivers; decisions that are motivated by financial concerns
rather than safety. Wisconsin, Nebraska, Louisiana and the District of
Columbia have all increased the length of their renewal period. The
state legislature in Texas determined that the risk of public safety
did not merit the cost of instituting stricter procedures to screen
older drivers. In Florida, the state with the most elderly drivers, an
individual without a traffic conviction in the prior three years can
renew their license through the mail and appear in person only once
every 12 years.

Furthermore, states also vary considerably in what they require the
medical profession to do. "In Alabama, physicians are required to tell
their patients not to drive when they believe that they are unsafe,
but have no authority to report unsafe drivers. In California, Oregon,
Pennsylvania and Utah, physicians are required to report unsafe
drivers to the state. In contrast, in Maryland a physician may not
report their patient without that patient's written permission," said
Dr. Fields.

Neuropsychological tests, which are extremely useful in assessing
the presence and severity of brain damage caused by conditions such as
Alzheimer's Disease and head injuries, are of limited value when
assessing the specific skill of driving. "Driving is an over-learned
behavior and we need to insure that the assessment tools we use
measure accurately and fairly the behavior in question," said Dr.
Fields. "The most promising development in this area is the "Useful
Field of View" (UFOV) test. This test assesses the area of a person's
visual field in which information can be rapidly extracted without eye
or head movements."

"At present, it appears that automobiles are inspected with much
greater scrutiny than the drivers of those automobiles," said Drs.
Fields and Valtinson. "Even when drivers are tested for impairment,
the methods used by most states to identify impairments (e.g., vision
screening exams) are variable and not good at predicting poor drivers.
Most older drivers are safe and use good judgment in adjusting their
driving habits to age-related changes in visuo-motor capacities," said
Dr. Fields.

"The goal of this research was to highlight the differences in
state policies toward older drivers, to reduce the reliance on
out-of-date or ineffective screening techniques, to encourage the use
of tests which are fair to drivers of all ages and which actually
measure the capacities necessary to drive safely and promote the
passage of laws based on empirical findings," said the authors.

Presentation: "Assessment of Older Drivers: Neuropsychological
Predictors and State Laws," Robert Fields, Ph.D., Allegheny Hospital
in Pittsburgh, PA and Gale Valtinson, Ph.D., Biscayne Rehabilitation
Institute in Miami, Session 2042, 8:00 AM, Saturday August 15, 1998,
Moscone Center - South Building, Exhibit Hall B (D-7)

(Full text available from the APA Public Affairs Office.)

The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is
the largest scientific and professional organization representing
psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association
of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 151,000
researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through
its divisions in 50 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 59
state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to
advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of
promoting human welfare.
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