Citation

Payyanadan RP, Sanchez FA, Lee JD. IEEE Trans. Intel. Transp. Syst. 2016; PP(99): 1-10.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers))

DOI

10.1109/TITS.2016.2582513

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Older drivers face decline in perceptual, cognitive, and motor abilities, and yet, increased fragility largely explains their increased risk of fatal crashes. Adaptation and self-regulation explain why older drivers can be safe drivers in the face of declining ability. Left turns and U-turns are particularly challenging, accounting for 10% of crashes for drivers aged 60-69 and increasing to 32% for those over 80. To mitigate these driving challenges through more effective adaptation, a route risk measure was developed. The route risk measure quantifies the risk of driving challenges such as left turns, U-turns, and trip length using older driver crash statistics from the General Estimates System. We applied the risk measure to 1253 trips taken by 39 urban and rural older drivers residing in Wisconsin. A search for a low-risk alternative route was conducted by applying the measure to corresponding routes suggested by Google Maps.

RESULTS showed that the low-risk alternative reduced risk for 77.7% of the older drivers' trips, on average, by 61.4%. The low-risk alternative had 1.50 fewer left turns and 0.23 fewer U-turns and were 0.44 mi shorter. Thus, selecting low-risk alternatives from the routes suggested by Google could help drivers avoid challenging maneuvers, potentially reducing their crash risk by promoting more effective adaptation to their declining abilities.
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems ( Volume: PP, Issue: 99 )

Language: en