According to the National Institutes of Health, other common driving errors in later life are, "failing to yield the right of way, failing to stay in your lane, misjudging the time or distance needed to turn in front of traffic, failing to stop completely at a stop sign, and speeding...." Surprisingly, there are not many studies in psychology that link specific age-related changes in thinking (cognition) to specific driving errors.
One such study was done in Australia by Anstey and Wood (2011) who recruited 266 volunteers between the ages of 70-88 who reported that they drove at least once a week on a regular basis. These Seniors took a battery of cognitive tests and also went for a 50 minute drive supervised by an instructor, and accompanied by an occupational therapist who noted any driving errors that occurred.
Some of their results replicated past research. For example, all driving errors quadrupled with increasing age of participant - so my husband and I will have less to worry about when we are in our 70s compared to our 80s. Also, there were no gender effects - so we will not be able to predict if my husband or I will be the safer driver; although women tend to outlive men so I am more likely to make it well into my 80s and thus up my risk of driving errors!
The factor that predicted the majority of the errors was called "Speeded Attention and Switching" and was made up of results from various tests of two specific cognitive processes that slow with aging: speed of processing and task switching ability. Speed of processing is how quickly you are able to recognize and understand how to react to new information that is coming your way. Task switching ability is how well you are able to quickly and accurately switch your attention between two activities. Because driving causes us all to encounter new information quickly (a dog runs into the street, the car ahead of us suddenly brakes, a cloudburst makes the pavement slick) and provides us many competing tasks (staying in our lane, obeying the speed limit, looking for road signs and stoplights) it is sensible that declines in these skills would correlate with driving errors.
One of these errors, "brake/accelerator problems" - which include driving too quickly or too slowly - returns us to our meme. The Senior Romeo may be driving too slowly if it takes him longer to know where to focus his attention and longer for him to switch where his attention lies...especially if he is highly motivated to pay attention to his hot date! By slowing down he may buy himself some time to compensate for these cognitive declines, which may give him the impression that he is still driving safely.
So if you have older relatives (or dates!) you may have some concerns about their driving. This is especially likely if they are over age 80: "People 80 and older are involved in 5.5 times as many fatal crashes per mile driven as middle-aged drivers." However, more concern should be given to the teens in your life: "the crash rate for driver ages 16and 17...is almost nine times as high as that for middle-aged driver." If you are middle aged you probably make few driving errors, but be careful - you are likely to be distracted as you worry about your Senior parents' and your adolescent children's driving.
Further Reading:
The Anstey and Wood (2011) journal article can be accessed through your local college library.
Test your own Speed of Processing! The results will report your accuracy and speed at solving these novel problems.
How to talk to a Senior about safe driving. The NIH has some excellent ideas to get the conversation started.
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has an official online dating site for Seniors. You can talk about today's blog on your first date!
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