Driving, Aging, Safety and Health

A special issue of Geriatrics (ISSN 2308-3417).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2021) | Viewed by 30894

Special Issue Editor

AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Washington, DC 20005, USA
Interests: safety; aging; driving; health

Special Issue Information

Although older adults often take considerable steps to ensure their driving safety, many risk being injured or killed in crashes due a variety of aging health conditions. Medical issues, lifestyle choices, medications, and mobility needs, among many other factors, both known and unknown, significantly impact driving safety. Older drivers comprise a significant number of licensed drivers across the globe. Thus, there is a growing need to identify these factors and assess how they impact safety in order to develop responsive countermeasures. 

Potential contributions to this Special Edition of Geriatrics may include studies assessing risks to safe driving created by age-related functional impairments, mental health conditions, medication side-effects, and alcohol and drug use. Additionally, studies are welcomed that investigate protective factors for safe driving, including family and peer support, volunteering/working, physical activity, emerging in-vehicle technologies, and access to alternative mobility.

Dear Colleagues,

I trust this email finds you well, and that you and yours are safe in these unprecedented times.

It is my pleasure to announce that I am currently acting as Guest Editor for a second Special Issue of the journal Geriatrics (https://0-www-mdpi-com.brum.beds.ac.uk/journal/geriatrics, ISSN 2308-3417) entitled “Driving, Aging, Safety, and Health”.

I am writing to invite you to submit a manuscript to this Special Issue. We are particularly interested in safety and health issues related to aging and driving. Safety may incorporate a broad spectrum of topics that are affected by various health conditions due to aging and impact safe mobility.  

The manuscript may be either a full paper or a communication based on your own research in this area, or it may be a focused review article on some aspect of the subject.

Geriatrics is fully open access. Open access (unlimited and free access by readers) increases publicity and promotes more frequent citations, as indicated by several studies. Open access is supported by the authors and their institutes.

The submission deadline is 15 January, 2021. You may send your manuscript now or up until the deadline. If you require an extension, please get in touch and we will be happy to consider any reasonable requests. Please note, submitted papers should not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. We also encourage authors to send a short abstract or tentative title to the Editorial Office in advance ([email protected]).

For further details on the submission process, please see the instructions for authors at the journal website.

Thank you for the consideration.

Dr. Tara Kelley-Baker
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Geriatrics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Safety
  • Aging
  • Driving
  • Health

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

9 pages, 233 KiB  
Article
Older Adult Willingness to Use Fully Autonomous Vehicle (FAV) Ride Sharing
by Alexa L. Siegfried, Alycia Bayne, Laurie F. Beck and Katherine Freund
Geriatrics 2021, 6(2), 47; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/geriatrics6020047 - 29 Apr 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3205
Abstract
In the United States, older adults (age 65 and older) rely on private automobiles for transportation. For those who stop driving, access to alternative modes of transportation is important for health, wellbeing, mobility, and independence. This paper explores older adult willingness to use [...] Read more.
In the United States, older adults (age 65 and older) rely on private automobiles for transportation. For those who stop driving, access to alternative modes of transportation is important for health, wellbeing, mobility, and independence. This paper explores older adult willingness to use fully autonomous vehicle (FAV) ride sharing and the features or services of FAV ride sharing that would make them willing to take a ride. These data were gathered as part of a larger qualitative research study designed to explore the factors affecting older adult use of ride share services. For the larger study, we conducted 68 telephone interviews with older adults, and 10 in-person focus groups with 56 older adults, including individuals who both used and never used ride share services. We used a convenience sample recruited by study partners, including ride share and transportation services and a recruitment firm. The predominant thematic findings of the qualitative analysis included a desire for a proven safety record in terms of performance and technology, followed by dependability and accuracy of FAV ride sharing. Older adults’ concerns about FAV ride sharing included safety concerns and preferences for social interaction with drivers. Ride share services that use FAVs in the future may need to tailor transportation offerings for older adults to increase their willingness to use FAVS to support their mobility and social needs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Driving, Aging, Safety and Health)
10 pages, 976 KiB  
Article
Using Naturalistic Driving Data to Predict Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia: Preliminary Findings from the Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers (LongROAD) Study
by Xuan Di, Rongye Shi, Carolyn DiGuiseppi, David W. Eby, Linda L. Hill, Thelma J. Mielenz, Lisa J. Molnar, David Strogatz, Howard F. Andrews, Terry E. Goldberg, Barbara H. Lang, Minjae Kim and Guohua Li
Geriatrics 2021, 6(2), 45; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/geriatrics6020045 - 23 Apr 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 20083
Abstract
Emerging evidence suggests that atypical changes in driving behaviors may be early signals of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. This study aims to assess the utility of naturalistic driving data and machine learning techniques in predicting incident MCI and dementia in older [...] Read more.
Emerging evidence suggests that atypical changes in driving behaviors may be early signals of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. This study aims to assess the utility of naturalistic driving data and machine learning techniques in predicting incident MCI and dementia in older adults. Monthly driving data captured by in-vehicle recording devices for up to 45 months from 2977 participants of the Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers study were processed to generate 29 variables measuring driving behaviors, space and performance. Incident MCI and dementia cases (n = 64) were ascertained from medical record reviews and annual interviews. Random forests were used to classify the participant MCI/dementia status during the follow-up. The F1 score of random forests in discriminating MCI/dementia status was 29% based on demographic characteristics (age, sex, race/ethnicity and education) only, 66% based on driving variables only, and 88% based on demographic characteristics and driving variables. Feature importance analysis revealed that age was most predictive of MCI and dementia, followed by the percentage of trips traveled within 15 miles of home, race/ethnicity, minutes per trip chain (i.e., length of trips starting and ending at home), minutes per trip, and number of hard braking events with deceleration rates ≥ 0.35 g. If validated, the algorithms developed in this study could provide a novel tool for early detection and management of MCI and dementia in older drivers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Driving, Aging, Safety and Health)
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9 pages, 361 KiB  
Article
Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use and Hard Braking Events in Older Drivers
by Yuqing Xue, Stanford Chihuri, Howard F. Andrews, Marian E. Betz, Carolyn DiGuiseppi, David W. Eby, Linda L. Hill, Vanya Jones, Thelma J. Mielenz, Lisa J. Molnar, David Strogatz, Barbara H. Lang, Tara Kelley-Baker and Guohua Li
Geriatrics 2021, 6(1), 20; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/geriatrics6010020 - 20 Feb 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2232
Abstract
Potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) identified by the American Geriatrics Society should generally be avoided by older adults because of ineffectiveness or excess risk of adverse effects. Few studies have examined the effects of PIMs on driving safety measured by prospectively and objectively collected [...] Read more.
Potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) identified by the American Geriatrics Society should generally be avoided by older adults because of ineffectiveness or excess risk of adverse effects. Few studies have examined the effects of PIMs on driving safety measured by prospectively and objectively collected driving data. Data for this study came from the Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers study, a multisite naturalistic driving study of older adults. Multivariable negative binominal modeling was used to estimate incidence rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals of hard braking events (proxies for unsafe driving behavior defined as events with a deceleration rate ≥0.4 g) associated with PIM use among older drivers. The study sample consisted of 2932 drivers aged 65–79 years at baseline, including 542 (18.5%) who used at least one PIM. These drivers were followed through an in-vehicle recording device for up to 44 months. The overall incidence of hard braking events was 1.16 per 1000 miles. Use of PIMs was associated with a 10% increased risk of hard braking events. Compared to drivers who were not using PIMs, the risk of hard braking events increased 6% for those using one PIM, and 24% for those using two or more PIMs. Use of PIMs by older adult drivers is associated in a dose-response fashion with elevated risks of hard braking events. Reducing PIM use in older adults might help improve driving safety as well as health outcomes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Driving, Aging, Safety and Health)
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14 pages, 5564 KiB  
Article
Investigating On-Road Lane Maintenance and Speed Regulation in Post-Stroke Driving: A Pilot Case–Control Study
by Heng Zhou, Qian (Chayn) Sun, Alison Blane, Brett Hughes, Torbjörn Falkmer and Jianhong (Cecilia) Xia
Geriatrics 2021, 6(1), 16; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/geriatrics6010016 - 09 Feb 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2367
Abstract
Stroke can adversely affect the coordination and judgement of drivers due to executive dysfunction, which is relatively common in the post-stroke population but often undetected. Quantitatively examining vehicle control performance in post-stroke driving becomes essential to inspect whether and where post-stroke older drivers [...] Read more.
Stroke can adversely affect the coordination and judgement of drivers due to executive dysfunction, which is relatively common in the post-stroke population but often undetected. Quantitatively examining vehicle control performance in post-stroke driving becomes essential to inspect whether and where post-stroke older drivers are risky. To date, it is unclear as to which indicators, such as lane keeping or speed control, can differentiate the driving performance of post-stroke older drivers from that of normal (neurotypical) older drivers. By employing a case–control design using advanced vehicle movement tracking and analysis technology, this pilot study aimed to compare the variations in driving trajectory, lane keeping and speed control between the two groups of older drivers using spatial and statistical techniques. The results showed that the mean standard deviation of lane deviation (SDLD) in post-stroke participants was higher than that of normal participants in complex driving tasks (U-turn and left turn) but almost the same in simple driving tasks (straight line sections). No statistically significant differences were found in the speed control performance. The findings indicate that, although older drivers can still drive as they need to after a stroke, the decline in cognitive abilities still imposes a higher cognitive workload and more effort for post-stroke older drivers. Future studies can investigate post-stroke adults’ driving behaviour at more challenging driving scenarios or design driving intervention programs to improve their executive function in driving. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Driving, Aging, Safety and Health)
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10 pages, 222 KiB  
Article
The Medical Referral Process and Motor-Vehicle Crash Risk for Drivers with Dementia
by Jonathan Davis, Cara Hamann, Brandon Butcher and Corinne Peek-Asa
Geriatrics 2020, 5(4), 91; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/geriatrics5040091 - 13 Nov 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2189
Abstract
Cognitive and physical impairment can occur with dementia and reduce driving ability. In the United States, individual states have procedures to refer and evaluate drivers who may no longer be fit to drive. The license review process is not well understood for drivers [...] Read more.
Cognitive and physical impairment can occur with dementia and reduce driving ability. In the United States, individual states have procedures to refer and evaluate drivers who may no longer be fit to drive. The license review process is not well understood for drivers with dementia. This study uses comprehensive data from the Iowa Department of Transportation to compare the referral process for drivers with and without dementia from January 2014 through November 2019. The likelihood of failing an evaluation test was compared between drivers with and without dementia using logistic regression. The risk of motor-vehicle crash after referral for review of driving ability was compared using a Cox proportional hazard model. Analysis controlled for the age and sex of the referred driver. Drivers with dementia performed worse on all tests evaluated except the visual screening test. After the referral process, the risk of crash was similar between those with and without dementia. Drivers with dementia were denied their license more frequently than referred drivers without dementia. However, drivers with dementia who successfully kept their license as a result of the license review process were not at an increased risk of crash compared to other referred drivers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Driving, Aging, Safety and Health)
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