Research to Enhance the Safe Driving Performance of Older Commercial Vehicle Drivers

Résumé du livre

This research effort involved investigations of fifteen human abilities, their changes which occur with aging, and their effects upon commercial truck driving performance. One-hundred and seven commercially licensed truck drivers, divided into five age cohort groups, participated in the research study; drivers ranged in age from 31 to 76 years of age. An ability testbed, consisting of laboratory-based assessment devices, was used to measure the following driving related perceptual, cognitive, and psychomotor abilities. How well drivers performed on a number of ability tests was predictive of driving performance. However, age, in and of itself, was not predictive of driving performance. Interventions designed to target ability deficiencies common among older commercial vehicle drivers were also developed and evaluated during the course of this effort. The degree to which the interventions enhanced, or otherwise influenced driving performance was examined by contrasting performance with versus without the interventions (i.e., comparing the experimental and control groups). Assignment to each experimental condition was blocked (or grouped) by age. Results indicated that all four interventions led to enhanced performance.