In the context of the aging population, the issue of road safety is a matter of increasing concern. Older drivers are over-represented in crashes at intersections and more particularly when a turn across traffic has to bemade. The aim of the present study was to evaluate how three executive functions; which are high cognitive level functions (inhibition, updating and mental flexibility) are involved in a simulated left-turn maneuver, and could affect the performance of older drivers. A neuropsychological evaluation of three executive components (updating, inhibition and mental flexibility) was combined with a driving simulator experiment, involving ten left-turn intersections, to investigate the relationship between these functions and driving performance in two age groups of drivers: a group of younger driver (aged 18 to 35) and a group of healthy older drivers (aged 62 to78). The cognitive assessment showed that the older drivers present lower performances in two of the three executive functions (inhibition and updating), compared to younger drivers. The older drivers performed slightly worse than younger drivers in the simulated left-turns intersections. A regression analysis also demonstrated that the differences in participants performance in the simulator were affected by the flexibility cost and the updating cost, but not by aging. Implications for older drivers safety andfuture directions concerning usability of driving simulators are discussed.
Abstract