by University of New South Wales

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Could you imagine having a driving lesson in your 50s or 60s, even though you've been driving since your late teens?

The idea isn't as far-fetched as it may seem. The latest research into older driver behavior is finding that tailored driving lessons can improve older driver performance and safety on the road.

True, old age brings with it some physical and cognitive declines that may impact driving performance such as slower reflexes, a shrinking peripheral vision and a reduced capacity to react to fast-moving and changing conditions. But bad driving isn't exclusive to any age-group, as a glance at the high rates of accidents among young drivers could tell you.

Professor Kaarin Anstey is an expert in cognitive aging and has been involved in several projects researching older driver safety at UNSW Sydney. Her team at the UNSW-affiliated institute, Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), has recently completed a randomized controlled trial of older drivers—called the Better Drive Study—to see whether driving skills can be improved despite the physical and cognitive challenges of old age.

"We know that older drivers have higher rates of crashes than middle-aged drivers," Prof. Anstey says.

"And we see an uptick of crashes particularly in the over-80s. But until recently, the way that has been managed is through regulation, in license removal, which is basically an all-or-nothing approach. But for some older drivers, they got their license when they were 16 and they tell you they learned to drive in a paddock. And now the driving environments have completely changed, cars have changed, and they've never done any refresher courses."

In the trial, drivers over 65 are put into three groups. The first does a road rules refresher course, which Prof. Anstey says effectively functions as the control in the experiment.

"Previous research has shown it improves knowledge but not necessarily driving safety or crash risk," she says.

The second group is videoed as they drive—with one camera pointing outwards to the road and one trained on the driver. At the end of the drive, participants are played back any errors they made. For the third group, the drivers get the video feedback with the additional benefit of lessons tailored to focus on their errors.

The researchers have followed the drivers in the three groups after 12 months, to see if their driving improves over time.

"We haven't yet analyzed our results as we've just completed our last assessment. But in our pilot study, which was very similar, we found that of the people that had our intervention involving driving lessons and video feedback, we moved a significant proportion from unsafe to safe drivers, and we reduced their driving errors," Prof. Anstey says.

While the researchers do see a similar range of errors made by older drivers in the study that are different to the sort made by young drivers, not all mistakes being caught are necessarily due to the effects of old age.

"A lot of these are just bad habits that drivers have brought with them from their younger years," Prof. Anstey says.

"We see a lot of people not checking blind spots, not taking right hand turns properly, cutting corners, or not maintaining their lane position…in our study drivers get to practice the errors, which I think is quite powerful. They're not just being told what they're doing wrong and what not to do. They're actually getting a chance to learn to do it the right way."

Dementia and driving

While dementia was screened in participants for the purposes of the Better Drive Study, having dementia does not necessarily result in disqualification of a person's driver's license.

"If a person has dementia, they have to be given a restricted license that limits them to driving close to home," says Prof. Anstey.

"Most people continue to drive with early dementia. In fact, international research shows that people with Alzheimer's disease continue to drive for 18 months to three years after first diagnosis."

This may partly be due to the fact that GPs and clinicians are getting better at diagnosing early stage dementia which in the past would have been undetected, and the person would have continued to drive as normal. But Prof. Anstey adds it depends on what type of dementia is detected—there are some forms of dementia that exclude people from driving, particularly those that seriously affect co-ordination, or the planning and decision-making parts of the brain, known as executive functioning.

"For these reasons, whether or not you can drive has to be decided on an individual basis by a GP and occupational therapist," says Prof. Anstey.

The different states in Australia have different rules around assessing someone's physical and cognitive fitness for driving. The rules range from self-reporting medical conditions that may affect a driver's ability—as is the case in Victoria—to annual medical assessments from a GP after the age of 75 and practical driving tests once over the age of 85, as is the case in NSW.

"In some cases, a GP might refer someone for a driving test with a driver-trained occupational therapist, who might do some off-road tests and then put them through a driving test. And then they'd write a report and the occupational therapist can make a recommendation about licensing."

The road ahead

Prof. Anstey's team today launched a website for older drivers—Aging Well on the Road—that is packed with information to help older drivers throughout Australia navigate the rules and regulations of their state.

She would like to see intervention and improving driving skills for older drivers become an accepted part of our driving lives.

"People don't naturally ask themselves 'do I need to update my driving skills,'" Prof. Anstey says.

"The idea is that we need to put some effort into improving our driving and maintaining our skills, and it shouldn't be stigmatized at all. It could be something like, when you turn 50 you're invited to have an extra driving lesson just to check in on your driving. At the moment you'd only get that if you had something wrong with your driving. It'd be better to make it a normal part of life."

The Better Drive Study concluded in September 2024 with results to be made available in 2025.

More information: For older drivers wanting to know more, visit: ageingwellontheroad.com.au/

Provided by University of New South Wales