Findings from University of Sydney Yields New Data on Risk Management (Predictors of older drivers’ involvement in rapid deceleration events)

Insurance Weekly News

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- New research on Risk Management is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Camperdown, Australia, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "Rapid deceleration occurs when substantial force slows the speed of a vehicle. Rapid deceleration events (RDEs) have been proposed as a surrogate safety measure."

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the University of Sydney, "As there is concern about crash involvement of older drivers and the effect of age-related declining visual and cognitive function on driving performance, we examined the relationship between RDEs and older driver's vision, cognitive function and driving confidence, using naturalistic driving measures. Participants aged 75 to 94 years had their vehicle instrumented for 12 months. To minimise the chance of identifying false positives, accelerometer data was processed to identify RDEs with a substantial deceleration of >750 milli-g (7.35 m/s(2)). We examined the incidence of RDEs amongst older drivers, and how this behaviour is affected by differences in age; sex; visual function, cognitive function; driving confidence; and declines over the 12 months. Almost two-thirds (64%) of participants were involved in at least one RDE, and 22% of these participants experienced a meaningful decline in contrast sensitivity during the 12 months. We conducted regression modelling to examine associations between RDEs and predictive measures adjusted for (i) duration of monitoring and (ii) distance driven. We found the rate of RDEs per distance increased with age; although, this did not remain in the multivariate model. In the multivariate model, we found older drivers who experienced a decline in contrast sensitivity over the 12 months and those with lower baseline driving confidence were at increased risk of involvement in RDEs adjusted for distance driven. In other studies, contrast sensitivity has been associated with increased crash involvement for older drivers."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "These findings lend support for the use of RDEs as a surrogate safety measure, and demonstrate an association between a surrogate safety measure and a decline in contrast sensitivity of older drivers."

For more information on this research see: Predictors of older drivers' involvement in rapid deceleration events. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2017;98():312-319. Accident Analysis and Prevention can be contacted at: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Accident Analysis and Prevention - www.journals.elsevier.com/accident-analysis-and-prevention/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting A. Chevalier, University of Sydney, Sydney Med Sch, George Inst Global Hlth, Camperdown, NSW 2050, Australia. Additional authors for this research include K. Coxon, A.J. Chevalier, E. Clarke, K. Rogers, J. Brown, S. Boufous, R. Ivers and L. Keay.