Functional Assessments, Safety Outcomes, and Driving Exposure Measures for Older Drivers
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Summary
This report evaluates the predictive validity of functional assessments for driving safety outcomes among older adults and compares methods for measuring driving exposure. The research addresses two primary objectives: determining which cognitive, visual, and psychomotor measures best predict crashes and serious moving violations in drivers aged 70 and older, and assessing the reliability of self-reported driving exposure data compared to objective instrumentation. The study involved two components. Study 1 assessed 692 drivers recruited from Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration offices between September 2008 and June 2009. Participants completed a 30-minute battery of computer-based and physical tests measuring visuospatial ability, processing speed, divided attention, visual search, working memory, executive function (maze performance), contrast sensitivity, and brake reaction time. Researchers then analyzed state records for crashes and serious point violations occurring within 18 months post-assessment. Study 2 utilized a subsample of 10 drivers who participated in a naturalistic driving study for one month. This group provided data from three sources: an On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) module installed in their vehicles, immediate post-trip logs, and retrospective self-report questionnaires (Driving Preferences Instrument). In Study 1, univariate and multivariate analyses identified specific functional deficits as significant predictors of safety outcomes. Executive function, measured by the time required to complete a computer-based maze task, emerged as the strongest predictor. Performance on the easiest maze version significantly predicted crash involvement, while a combination of maze tests predicted crashes with high significance. This measure also predicted serious moving violations. Other significant predictors included contrast sensitivity (with a identified cutpoint of 1.4 log contrast sensitivity) and visual search with divided attention, measured via a computerized Trail-Making Test Part B (cutpoint of 130 seconds). Additionally, false alarms on a choice brake response task were the only significant predictor of intersection crashes, with drivers making at least two errors being three times more likely to be involved in such crashes. In Study 2, the comparison of exposure measurement methods revealed that immediate trip logs correlated strongly with objective OBD data (r > 0.90). In contrast, retrospective self-report questionnaires showed weak correlations with OBD records and exhibited inconsistent patterns of over- and under-reporting. The findings suggest that while objective instrumentation is ideal, structured immediate self-reports are a reliable and cost-effective alternative for measuring driving exposure, whereas memory-based estimates are unreliable. The study concludes that computer-based maze tests and specific visual/cognitive cutpoints offer valuable tools for clinical screening and early warning systems for driving impairment in older adults.
Key finding
Maze completion time significantly predicted crash involvement and serious moving violations, while structured trip logs correlated strongly with objective on-board diagnostic data compared to unreliable self-reported estimates.
Methodology
mixed_methods
Sample size: 692
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 19 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
Topics
Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.
- exposure measurement
- useful field of view
- induced exposure
- cognitive capacity variation
- mci dementia driving
- dbq psychometrics
Information type
What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).
- Empirical Findings: behavioral performance data, observational prevalence
- Methodological Resource: validation psychometrics