This paper presents the results of a problem identification which was performed using accident data from the state of Alabama in the United States. This state is fairly representative of the country as a whole, containing both urban and rural areas, although it does not contain an excessively large major metropolitan area. Over 110,000 accident records were used in the analysis. The study divided the accidents into three subsets by casual driver age: less than 25 years, 25-64 years, and 65 years and older. These three subsets were compared statistically to determine if any of a selected subset of over 100 variables within the database had values which were significantly different between the age groups. Particular attention was given to those variables which reflected upon sensory perception, neural processes, and motor responses. In addition, the results of a literature review of similar analyses were compared to those obtained in Alabama. This established the potential for accident reduction from countermeasures which alter the effects of these variables upon older drivers. (A)
Samenvatting