Distracted driving in elderly and middle-aged drivers

Kelsey R Thompson; Amy M Johnson; Jamie L Emerson; Jeffrey D Dawson; Erwin R Boer; Matthew Rizzo

doi:10.1016/j.aap.2011.09.040

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Distracted driving in elderly and middle-aged drivers

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Distracted driving in elderly and middle-aged drivers

Kelsey R Thompson, Amy M Johnson, Jamie L Emerson, Jeffrey D Dawson, Erwin R Boer and Matthew Rizzo

Accident analysis and prevention, Vol.45(2), pp.711-717

03/2012

DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2011.09.040

PMCID: PMC3266512

PMID: 22269561

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/3266512View

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Abstract

► Examined distracted driving in elderly and middle-aged drivers. ► Distracted driving affected steering and speed control in both groups. ► Elderly drivers showed a serialization of behavior during distraction. ► Elderly drivers made more safety errors than middle-aged drivers during distraction. ► Distracted driving increased safety errors in both groups. Automobile driving is a safety-critical real-world example of multitasking. A variety of roadway and in-vehicle distracter tasks create information processing loads that compete for the neural resources needed to drive safely. Drivers with mind and brain aging may be particularly susceptible to distraction due to waning cognitive resources and control over attention. This study examined distracted driving performance in an instrumented vehicle (IV) in 86 elderly (mean=72.5 years, SD=5.0 years) and 51 middle-aged drivers (mean=53.7 years, SD=9.3 year) under a concurrent auditory–verbal processing load created by the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT). Compared to baseline (no-task) driving performance, distraction was associated with reduced steering control in both groups, with middle-aged drivers showing a greater increase in steering variability. The elderly drove slower and showed decreased speed variability during distraction compared to middle-aged drivers. They also tended to “freeze up”, spending significantly more time holding the gas pedal steady, another tactic that may mitigate time pressured integration and control of information, thereby freeing mental resources to maintain situation awareness. While 39% of elderly and 43% of middle-aged drivers committed significantly more driving safety errors during distraction, 28% and 18%, respectively, actually improved, compatible with allocation of attention resources to safety critical tasks under a cognitive load.

Serialization

Cognitive decline

Distracted driving

Multitasking

Instrumented vehicle

Older driver safety

Details

Title: Subtitle: Distracted driving in elderly and middle-aged drivers
Creators: Kelsey R Thompson - University of Iowa, Department of Neurology, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Amy M Johnson - University of Iowa, Department of Biostatistics, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Jamie L Emerson - University of Iowa, Department of Neurology, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Jeffrey D Dawson - University of Iowa, Department of Biostatistics, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Erwin R Boer - Entropy Control, Inc., 7945 Avenida Kirjah, LaJolla, CA 92037, USA
Matthew Rizzo - University of Iowa, Department of Neurology, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Accident analysis and prevention, Vol.45(2), pp.711-717
DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2011.09.040
PMID: 22269561
PMCID: PMC3266512
NLM abbreviation: Accid Anal Prev
ISSN: 0001-4575
eISSN: 1879-2057
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
Language: English
Date published: 03/2012
Academic Unit: Neurology; Public Health Administration; Biostatistics; Internal Medicine
Record Identifier: 9983997449902771

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