Does Monitoring Naturalistic Driving through Vehicle Instrumentation Make a Difference in Decision-Making for Fitness to Drive in Early Stage Dementia? An Intervention Study

Latest technologies are used in the vehicle to collect detailed information on ability and performance of drivers in early-stage dementia in an on-going collaboration involving the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), the University of Massachusetts Boston, and the University of Houston. With funding from the Alzheimer's Association (2006-2009), the collaborative is exploring the perspectives of three of the stakeholder groups (persons with dementia, family members, and specialists in driving assessment) and will compare their assessments with empirical data on on-road performance gained through in-vehicle monitoring. Funding is now sought for a control group of drivers that have not been monitored with the in-vehicle instrumentation to treat the instrumentation as an intervention and to test its effects related to decision-making among drivers with dementia and their family members. Pre and post test survey instruments have already been developed for the experimental group through the Alzheimer's Association funding. The scope of the proposed research is to utilize the research tools developed for the experimental group and obtain and analyze the control group data. With our contribution, the collaborative will be able to achieve the following goals that reinforce and in some instances may go beyond their initial project: 1) Compare the validity of multiple forms of assessment of driving skills with naturalistic driving in persons with early stage-dementia and a control group; 2) Inform decision-makers about appropriate intervals for checking driving competency; 3) Bring greater visibility to deficits in driving performance unique to people with early-stage dementia; 4) Understand behaviors and issues of older drivers with dementia and their families; and 5) Assess the attitudes, knowledge, and activities of occupational therapists and driver rehabilitation specialists as they relate to older drivers with dementia.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  University Transportation Centers Program
  1200 New Jersey Avenue
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Performing Organizations:

  University of Massachusetts, Boston

  University Transportation Center, 100 Morrissey Boulevard
  Boston, MA  United States  02125
• Principal Investigators:

  Adler, Geri

  Silverstein, Nina

  Materdey, Tomas

• Start Date: 20080701
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20090630
• Source Data: RiP Project 18786

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged; Decision making; Driver monitoring; Drivers; Driving cessation; Fitness to drive; Research projects; Technological innovations
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01459827
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: University of Massachusetts Transportation Center
• Files: UTC, RiP, USDOT
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 1:13PM