CBC: Researchers follow senior drivers to better track their skills on the road
René Bazinet, 76, is a working consultant who is not even thinking about giving up the keys to his car.
He’s not opposed to re-assessing his driving skills later, but he doesn’t think age has anything to do with his ability to drive.
“Perhaps there ought to be some form of testing at a certain point to see physically, mentally, emotionally [if] someone is able to do it, but some drivers are better at my age than at 40 or 50,” says Bazinet.
In less than two decades, the Canadian government says seniors will make up nearly a quarter of our population — and many of them will be driving.
Researchers at the Centre on Aging at the University of Manitoba and elsewhere are studying drivers 70 and older to get a better indication of their skill on the roads.
The Candrive study has been following seniors’ driving habits since 2009. With 928 participants across Canada and another 302 in New Zealand and Australia, the study’s main focus is to develop a better screening tool to help doctors identify older drivers who may be unsafe to drive.
“With the Candrive project, we did have devices in people’s vehicles, we did look at how far they were driving and we did look at people’s risk for collision,” says Michelle Porter, director at the Centre on Aging.
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