Assessment of the Psychosocial Behavior Associated to Elderly Drivers to Reduce Their Involvement in Crashes

Review of literature reveals that the focus of most traffic related research has been of the operations and safety of roadway, rather than on the distribution of the user. This paper focuses on senior drivers (aged 65+) whose driving abilities may weaken based on factors which are uncontrollable, some of which include their age, physical and sensory awareness, as well as health challenges. Consequently, these factors results in some behavioral habits which can be controlled. This research aims at identifying those psychosocial behaviors contributing to certain driver habits with the aim of controlling them. By conducting a survey, the behaviors that may produce savior incidences from controllable psychosocial behaviors with potentially dangerous consequences were identified. Also, a five years (2008-2012) crash severity analysis was also carried out particularly to create a binary model of attributes significant in the crashes involving seniors using the binary logistic regression analysis. The results suggested that the age, medical conditions among other attributes lead to some behaviors such as traffic violations which are significant attributes in the severity of crashes involving seniors. The findings by the research will enhance the understanding controllable and uncontrollable factors and its impact on the elderly crash frequency and its severity. The results can be used in improving the safety of senior, by reducing their involvement in crashes.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $45200.00
• Contract Numbers:

  DTRT13-G-UTC42

  004139-004485

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  University Transportation Centers Program
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Tucker-Thomas, Dawn

• Performing Organizations:

  Center for Accessibility and Safety for an Aging Population

  Florida State University
  Tallahassee, FL  United States 
• Principal Investigators:

  Kobelo, Doreen

• Start Date: 20140409
• Expected Completion Date: 20142325
• Actual Completion Date: 20161222
• Source Data: RiP Project 36869

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged drivers; Behavior; Cognition; Driving cessation; Mobility; Rural areas; Vision
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01530635
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Center for Accessibility and Safety for an Aging Population
• Contract Numbers: DTRT13-G-UTC42, 004139-004485
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jul 23 2014 1:01AM