Assessing and Improving the Cognitive and Visual Driving Fitness of Older Long Haul Truck Drivers - Phase I

Driving is a highly dynamic task that requires intact cognitive and visual skills to perform safely. Driving trucks that are loaded with hazardous materials require even more careful planning and consideration to avoid unanticipated shifts in the center of gravity associated with sharp turns while speeding (slushing) or liquid surge associated with sharp braking. Such planning and consideration are highly dependent on cognitive and visual skills for accuracy. In the first year of this proposal, the research team will develop a driving fitness assessment battery that consists of tests that have been shown in the geriatric literature to be reliable and valid measures of driving-related cognitive and visual skills. These tests consist of the Snellen Maze Test, Trails A and B, Range of Motion and Gait Speed. Cognitively, the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) has had significant limitations in driving fitness; therefore, alternative cognitive tools such as the Saint Louis University Mental Status (SLUMS) exam will be used. Drivers over age 60 licensed to engage in the hauling of hazardous materials over long distances will be recruited and given this battery of tests to: 1. Assess their cognitive and visual fitness, 2. Establish the usefulness and effectiveness of these tests to drivers before embarking on the journey, and 3. Identify potential risk factors that contribute to unsafe driving. The team anticipates that this part of the study will be helpful in identifying drivers who have cognitive and/or visual impairments that may make driving a truck carrying hazardous materials unsafe. A unique aspect of this part of the study is the possibility of improving driving fitness by offering drivers with demonstrated cognitive and visual deficits the opportunity to retrain and improve such skills in a technologically advanced high fidelity simulator. The Kansas Department of Transportation will collaborate for recruitment of subjects.

• Record URL:
  http://matc.unl.edu/research/research_project.php?researchID=525

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $121519
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747107

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Mid-America Transportation Center

  University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  2200 Vine Street, PO Box 830851
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68583-0851

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Mid-America Transportation Center

  University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  2200 Vine Street, PO Box 830851
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68583-0851
• Project Managers:

  Stearns, Amy

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Kansas Medical Center

  3901 Rainbow Blvd.
  Kansas City, Kansas  United States  66160
• Principal Investigators:

  Bhattacharya, Shelley

• Start Date: 20170701
• Expected Completion Date: 20180731
• Actual Completion Date: 20180731
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers
• Source Data: RiP Project 91994-11

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Age groups; Aged drivers; Cognition; Driver performance; Evaluation and assessment; Fitness to drive; Hazardous materials; Risk assessment; Truck drivers; Trucking safety; Vision
• Subject Areas: Education and Training; Motor Carriers; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01660186
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Mid-America Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747107
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Feb 16 2018 4:46PM