Older Drivers Self-Screening Based on Health Concerns

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:   These reports describe the development, evaluation, and preliminary validation of a self-screening instrument to assess driving abilities of older drivers.  The purpose of this project was to improve upon existing instruments by focusing entirely on "health concerns" that affect driving.  Presented materials include the results of a literature review, and an expert panel's assessment of how severity levels of specific health concerns influence critical driving skills.
   
IMPLICATIONS FOR HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY:  This study showed the self-screening instrument to have positive value as drivers 75 and older who had a greater number of health concerns (as identified by the instrument) also tended to have poorer observed driving performance.  In addition, they tended to have greater deficits in driving-related abilities as identified by an occupational therapist.  Benefits of self-screening include:  reluctant drivers may be more willing to self assess than to be professionally assessed; people may discover declines at an earlier stage; and self-screening instruments can reach a wide variety of people because such instruments are easily distributed.