This study investigated the responses of older, middle-aged, and younger drivers during performance of emergency manoeuvres in an interactive driving simulator. Thirty-six drivers, equally distributed among three age groups (20-29; 35-44; 65-74) participated in the 32.2-km (20-mi) simulated drive, during which they encountered four emergency events at two levels of difficulty. Data were also collected in two baseline segments where no emergency events occurred. The emergency events were situations where other vehicles performed unexpected manoeuvers: pulling out in front of the subject's car from a side street, and turning left in front of the subject's car at an intersection. Information on driver performance variables, including avoidance behaviour and emergency avoidance response time, was collected. None of the age groups differed in avoidance response time, speed, deviation from the speed limit, brake pedal force, or avoidance behaviour. Age differences were found in lateral placement at intersections. Older drivers drove further to the right of the lane centre than younger and middle-aged drivers. It is believed that this finding is a result of a higher level of defensive behaviour among older drivers. No other differences in driving behaviour were found between groups. In this experiment, subjects were not performing turning manoeuvers. Future research should be directed, when possible, toward investigating driver behaviour when making turning manoeuvers across traffic.
Abstract