Relationship between cognitive and driving self-assessments in older drivers. Result of epidemiological and experimental on-road studies in france

TRANSED 2015 - 14th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons, LISBONNE, PORTUGAL, 28-/07/2015 - 31/07/2015; Most older drivers are able to efficiently self-regulate their own driving practices, that means reducing driving exposure and avoiding the most challenging driving conditions such as driving at night or in poor weather or at complex intersections. We hypothesized that this self-regulation might exist only if older drivers have accurate insight into their own age-related functional and cognitive decline. This study aims to evaluate how well self-estimation of cognitive ability of older corresponds to their actual driving performance, as assessed under in-traffic conditions. Seventy five current older drivers, men and women aged 70 and more, were recruited from a 1200 cohort study according three cognitive profiles: 25 drivers who correctly estimated their cognitive abilities, 25 drivers who under estimated and 25 drivers who over estimated their cognitive abilities. Driving performance (objective data) was assessed in on-road traffic situation under both driving instructor and experiment evaluations. Auto-estimation of driving abilities was evaluated trough several questions (subjective data) such as: Compared with when you were aged 40 years, how do you drive today? Participants had to respond on a 5-points scale from worse to better. Crossing objective and subjective data will allow to determine if drivers estimate correctly or not their driving performance. It is expected that drivers who overestimate their cognitive abilities also overestimate their driving abilities (similar relation would hold for drivers who under or correctly estimate). The question is how to help drivers who have poor insight of their cognitive and driving abilities in order to maintain their mobility. This would prevent them from a premature driving cessation or from dangerous driving resulting from a lack of awareness of the limitations related to age.