Testing Geezers

My observation: the quality of driving has decreased in recent years correlating to the increase of gadgets in the car - especially phones, GPS, and visual data centers - all these distractions at 70 mph escalates the probability of mayhem.

I recently participated in a test at a prestigious local university, to examine the effect of distractions by voice- activated gadgets on senior drivers while behind the wheel.  The target age group was 60-69.  I was given a series of tests by a pretty young scientist wearing a low cut blouse that emphasized the perkiness of her ample bosom. I guess this is standard office (and lab) garb for young folks these days.  She explained that the extensive questions and problems were designed to establish a base line for emotional and physical state, and to assess cognitive ability.  There were the usual questions about health and wellness, and some easy problems like drawing a clock face with the time set to ten past two.  The there were some tougher cognitive tests such as recalling a series of random words in a list, or a sequence of numbers.  Despite the (admittedly pleasant) distractions of my interrogator's cleavage, I did pretty well on these tests.

The second part of the test was actually on the highway in a specially outfitted car that recorded everything from my blood pressure and heartbeat to the movement of my eyes.  Cameras and sensors could detect whether I was looking straight ahead, at the console or the mirrors.  They also recorded everything I said in answer to questions.  A human being, a nice young fellow, sat in the back seat. The driving part took about 2 hours with me driving from Cambridge to Milford and back via main highways (I93, I495).  During the two hour drive I was presented with challenges such as programming the GPS to a specific address via voice commands, and finding a specific station on the radio, also via voice commands.  Also I made a few test phone calls with  hands free mobile phone.  Every now and then the recorded voice instructions would present me with a cognitive challenge, similar to the test above, where the voice would say a series of random  numbers and I was to recall the number one or two places back in the list.  This is hard to do sitting at a desk across from an attractive scientist; it is really hard when you are in thick traffic driving 70 miles per hour.   Needless to say I did not do so well under real rush hour driving conditions.

Brad, the monitor who was riding with me was not allowed to talk to me except to clarify instructions or test related topics.  He resisted my urge to engage in small talk. ( I can't help it; if someone else is in the car with me, it is natural to want to chit chat. Do you live around here? How do you like your job?  How did you get into this line of work? ) The only thing I found out was that he was a mechanical engineer.

At the end, they thanked me, and paid me a small honorarium for my time and willingness to be a lab animal.
I very much hope the results of such tests are helpful to the design of cars and devices for future drivers.  The chief problem that I experienced is that even though you can input search values with a voice command  (eg "Find previous address"), the device responds with a list of possible hits via a screen, so you are still forced to look away from the road for a second.

At 60 MPH a lot of things can happen during the brief time you are not looking at the road.  One of the losses we experience as we age is the ability to multi-task (which really means switching the focus of attention very rapidly).  This places geezers at increased risk correlating to the level of distractions in the car.

Clearly, distractions for drivers are nothing new, nor are they the exclusive province of older drivers.  About 15 years ago,  I rear-ended a Subaru that had stopped for a traffic light. We were crawling along in rush hour traffic.  I had heard  a joke on the radio and was jotting down the punch line on a pad on paper on my knee, when the Subaru stopped for the changing light.  It was a small accident, but I learned how even a moment of distraction can make a costly difference, even at 10mph.  Ironically, I can't remember that joke.

My experience confirms my belief that after age  65, drivers who have had several accidents and ALL drivers over 70 should be re-tested on the road every four years.  I would also support adding a cognitive test to all drivers being retested.  There also needs to be tighter monitoring of people with medical conditions that might impair their ability to drive safely.

The incorporation of ever more sophisticated gadgets into autos is inevitable.  It will be a huge design challenge to make them safe for the aging driver population.