Citation

Dommès A, Cavallo V. Proc. Int. Driv. Symp. Hum. Factors Driv. Assess. Train. Veh. Des. 2009; 5: 83-89.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, University of Iowa Public Policy Center)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The study aimed at developing and assessing a training method to improve the safety of elderly pedestrians with a simulator-based street-crossing technique specially designed to their needs and difficulties. Twenty seniors were enrolled in a street-crossing training program, and twenty other seniors were assigned to the control group (internet-use training). Before the training, immediately after it, and 6 months later, street-crossing decisions and behaviors were assessed using a simulated street-crossing task. The results showed that the simulator-based training enhanced the safety of the elderly pedestrians. However, the way in which they took into account the speed of the approaching car in their decisions and behaviors had not improved. The lack of effectiveness of training in the use of speed may reveal age-related sensory and cognitive impairments that our simulator-based method could not alleviate. The results of this study stressed the importance of greater attention to senior street-crossing retraining.