A new website launched by UNSW Sydney and NeuRA will help older drivers navigate licensing rules that differ from state to state while providing advice on how to keep driving longer.
Could you imagine having a driving lesson in your 50s or 60s, even though you've been driving since your late teens?
The idea isn't as far-fetched as it may seem. The latest research into older driver behaviour is finding that tailored driving lessons can improve older driver performance and safety on the road.
True, old age brings with it some physical and cognitive declines that may impact driving performance such as slower reflexes, a shrinking peripheral vision and a reduced capacity to react to fast-moving and changing conditions. But bad driving isn't exclusive to any age group, as a glance at the high rates of accidents among young drivers could tell you.
Scientia Professor Kaarin Anstey is an expert in cognitive ageing and has been involved in several projects researching older driver safety at UNSW Sydney. Her team at the UNSW-affiliated institute, Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), has recently completed a randomised controlled trial of older drivers - called the Better Drive Study - to see whether driving skills can be improved despite the physical and cognitive challenges of old age.
"We know that older drivers have higher rates of crashes than middle-aged drivers," Prof. Anstey says.
"And we see an uptick of crashes particularly in the over-80s. But until recently, the way that has been managed is through regulation, in licence removal, which is basically an all-or-nothing approach. But for some older drivers, they got their licence when they were 16 and they tell you they learned to drive in a paddock. And now the driving environments have completely changed, cars have changed, and they've never done any refresher courses."
In the trial, drivers over 65 are put into three groups. The first does a road rules refresher course, which Prof. Anstey says effectively functions as the control in the experiment.
"Previous research has shown it improves knowledge but not necessarily driving safety or crash risk," she says.
The second group is videoed as they drive - with one camera pointing outwards to the road and one trained on the driver. At the end of the drive, participants are played back any errors they made. For the third group, the drivers get the video feedback with the additional benefit of lessons tailored to focus on their errors.
The researchers have followed the drivers in the three groups after 12 months, to see if their driving improves over time.
"We haven't yet analysed our results as we've just completed our last assessment. But in our pilot study, which was very similar, we found that of the people that had our intervention involving driving lessons and video feedback, we moved a significant proportion from unsafe to safe drivers, and we reduced their driving errors," Prof. Anstey says.
While the researchers do see a similar range of errors made by older drivers in the study that are different to the sort made by young drivers, not all mistakes being caught are necessarily due to the effects of old age.
"A lot of these are just bad habits that drivers have brought with them from their younger years," Prof. Anstey says.
"We see a lot of people not checking blind spots, not taking right hand turns properly, cutting corners, or not maintaining their lane position … in our study drivers get to practise the errors, which I think is quite powerful. They're not just being told what they're doing wrong and what not to do. They're actually getting a chance to learn to do it the right way."
