Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Study Says We Become Increasing Bad Drivers with Age

Consumer Reports writes that research published by the American Psychological Association, on the online journal Neuropsychology, looked at healthy older drivers and their performance on the road and found that all types of driving errors increased with age, no matter what the person’s driving history.

The study looked at 266 people age 70 to 88 who had no signs of dementia, lived on their own, and drove at least once a week. Researchers wanted to find evidence for detecting unsafe older drivers and how declines in brain function — normal cognitive aging — affects driving skills. Participants drove through a 12-mile course through city and suburban streets in Brisbane, Australia, with a professional driving instructor in the front seat and occupational therapist in the back seat scoring the drivers on various errors.

Read the complete Consumer Reports article.

Comment below... do you agree with the results? Do you think there should be an age limit for seniors?

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