University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
Hum Factors. 2013 Aug;55(4):841-53. doi: 10.1177/0018720812465769.
In this study, we aimed to quantify and compare performance of middle-aged and older drivers during a naturalistic distraction paradigm (visual search for roadside targets) and to predict older drivers performance given functioning in visual, motor, and cognitive domains.
Distracted driving can imperil healthy adults and may disproportionally affect the safety of older drivers with visual, motor, and cognitive decline.
A total of 203 drivers, 120 healthy older (61 men and 59 women, ages 65 years and older) and 83 middle-aged drivers (38 men and 45 women, ages 40 to 64 years), participated in an on-road test in an instrumented vehicle. Outcome measures included performance in roadside target identification (traffic signs and restaurants) and concurrent driver safety. Differences in visual, motor, and cognitive functioning served as predictors.
Older drivers identified fewer landmarks and drove slower but committed more safety errors than did middle-aged drivers. Greater familiarity with local roads benefited performance of middle-aged but not older drivers.Visual cognition predicted both traffic sign identification and safety errors, and executive function predicted traffic sign identification over and above vision.
Older adults are susceptible to driving safety errors while distracted by common secondary visual search tasks that are inherent to driving. The findings underscore that age-related cognitive decline affects older drivers' management of driving tasks at multiple levels and can help inform the design of on-road tests and interventions for older drivers.
本研究旨在量化和比较中年和老年驾驶员在自然分心范式（路边目标视觉搜索）中的表现，并预测视觉、运动和认知功能对老年驾驶员表现的影响。
分心驾驶可能危及健康成年人的安全，并且可能会不成比例地影响视觉、运动和认知能力下降的老年驾驶员的安全。
共有 203 名驾驶员参与了一项在仪器化车辆上进行的道路测试，其中 120 名健康的老年驾驶员（61 名男性和 59 名女性，年龄 65 岁及以上）和 83 名中年驾驶员（38 名男性和 45 名女性，年龄 40 至 64 岁）。结果测量包括路边目标识别（交通标志和餐馆）和驾驶员安全的同时进行的表现。视觉、运动和认知功能的差异作为预测指标。
老年驾驶员识别的地标较少，行驶速度较慢，但安全错误比中年驾驶员多。对当地道路的熟悉程度对中年驾驶员的表现有益，但对老年驾驶员则没有。视觉认知预测了交通标志识别和安全错误，而执行功能在视觉之外预测了交通标志识别。
老年人在分心于常见的次要视觉搜索任务时，容易发生驾驶安全错误，这些任务是驾驶过程中的固有部分。研究结果强调了与年龄相关的认知能力下降会影响老年驾驶员在多个层面上管理驾驶任务的能力，并有助于为老年驾驶员的道路测试和干预措施提供信息。
