The proportion of elderly people in the general population is rising, resulting in greater numbers of drivers with neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. These neurodegenerative disorders impair cognition, visual perception, and motor function, leading to reduced driver fitness and greater crash risk. Yet neither medical diagnosis nor age alone is reliable enough to predict driver safety or crashes or to revoke the driving privileges of these individuals. Driving research utilizes tools such as questionnaires about driving habits and history, driving simulators, standardized road tests utilizing instrumented vehicles, and state driving records. Research challenges include outlining the evolution of driving safety, understanding the mechanisms of driving impairment, and developing a reliable and efficient standardized test battery for prediction of driver safety in neurodegenerative disorders. This information will enable healthcare providers to advise their patients with neurodegenerative disorders with more certainty, affect policy, and help develop rehabilitative measures for driving. (+info)
Risks and advantages of detecting individuals unfit to drive: a Markov decision analysis.
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Assessing elderly people to drive - practical considerations.
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BACKGROUND: Older drivers are likely to suffer declines in functioning and a number of health problems that may cumulatively affect driving ability. When involved in a motor vehicle accident, elderly people are more likely to be killed or seriously disabled than younger people. OBJECTIVE: This article provides an overview of the assessment for fitness to drive with emphasis on important practical points. DISCUSSION: General practitioners play a vital role in the assessment of elderly drivers. Consider assessing patients over the age of 75 years and patients who present with multiple disabilities, for fitness to drive. Screening for safe driving includes assessment of vision (acuity, visual fields), motor function (joint function, muscle strength, coordination) and cognition. Additional information may be required about overall functioning from relatives and neighbours. If doubt remains the patient should be referred for a practical driving assessment. (+info)
The impact of a vision screening law on older driver fatality rates.
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