TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2012//
TI  - Age and inconsistency in driving performance
JO  - Accident analysis and prevention
A1  - Bunce, David
A1  - Young, Mark S.
A1  - Blane, Alison
A1  - Khugputh, Priya
SP  - 293
EP  - 299
VL  - 49
IS  - 
N2  - Research in cognitive neuropsychology suggests that investigation of the within-person variability, or inconsistency, of cognitive performance may provide valuable insights into ageing mental processes. It is rare though, for this interest in intra-individual variability to extend to everyday activities. As this may provide important information about driving behaviour, we therefore assessed age differences in driving inconsistency in younger (n=24, M age=21.29 years) and older (n=21, M age=71.24 years) persons who drove in residential, urban and motorway conditions in a fully immersive driving simulator. In measures of headway (maintaining a safe distance to a preceding vehicle, close following, tailgating) and lateral lane position, older drivers exhibited significantly greater performance inconsistency, and this was particularly marked in the faster motorway condition. Older drivers also recorded greater perceived mental demands associated with driving, and greater within-person variability across a range of cognitive measures. The findings suggest that age-related deficits in attentional and executive control may affect the consistency of driving performance in older persons. Discussion considers interventions to introduce in-vehicle systems to help maintain attention in older drivers, and to intervene when safety-critical boundaries are exceeded.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0001-4575
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2012.01.001
ID  - ref1
ER  -