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Are You a Good Driver? Here’s How to Find Out
By John R. Quain, New York Times
March 30, 2008
Could a video game make you a better driver? More important, could computer software prevent teenagers from making fatal mistakes or even weed out older drivers whose debilities make them crash-prone?
While no one is suggesting that games like Grand Theft Auto will help junior make safer left-hand turns, there are researchers who believe that specially designed cognitive assessment software can train neophytes and aging drivers. Much as games like Brain Age for the Nintendo DS are intended to improve mental acuity, the cognitive software uses bouncing balls and visual memory tests to gauge driving skills.
There are already programs like AAA’s Roadwise Review (about $15), which is intended to help older people evaluate their driving. The program was based on research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Institute on Aging that showed that older drivers who had significant declines in particular cognitive abilities were up to five times as likely to be in a car accident as their peers. Roadwise assesses eight physical and mental fitness elements related to driving, an especially pressing issue with an estimated 40 million people over the age of 65 expected to be driving by 2020, up from 29 million in 2005, according to the AAA. The program, which takes about 30 minutes to complete, amounts to a do-it-yourself driving checkup, including video clips explaining the relevance of tests that check visual search and memory skills.
Taking the test myself, I dutifully squinted at flashing icons and followed instructions to connect numbers and letters in series with a computer mouse. Much to my relief, my test results revealed no impairments, but then again, I’m under 50.
If Roadwise does reveal impairments, AAA reminds users that the computer program is not equivalent to being examined by a doctor and that users may want to take additional steps, like seeing an ophthalmologist if one has difficulty discerning low-contrast objects. “The program only looks at abilities that are known to decline with age,” said Dannielle Sherrets, AAA’s manager of traffic safety research and analysis. So the program may not reveal other problems. Furthermore, Roadwise isn’t intended to improve cognitive shortcomings.
There are other programs that will test mental agility and then use subsequent computer training sessions to improve a driver’s skills. One such program is an online application called DriveFit ($89), which was developed by CogniFit, an Israeli company specializing in cognitive training software. DriveFit uses visual and memory tests to measure 12 driving-related cognitive abilities. It assesses reaction times, as well as a person’s propensity to take risks, ability to judge relative speed and process information when attention is divided (for example, driving while talking on a cellphone). According to the company, people who are slower at processing information in these areas are going to be more dangerous drivers.
I found DriveFit’s 30-minute evaluation much more challenging than AAA’s. Some sections were like a sophisticated version of Pong, in which I had to track moving objects on the computer screen and quickly judge the relative speeds of moving balls. In other sections, my memory was strained trying to recall ever lengthening number sequences and answer questions based on split-second glimpses of photos of busy intersections.
The results were humbling. The program found that I was very good at cognitive skills associated with being able to accurately judge how long it would take me to stop at a red light. The program also indicated that I had good visual scanning skills, useful for frequently checking my mirrors. However, even though I regard myself as a model citizen, I received very low marks when it came to being able to obey traffic regulations, and I was judged to be poor at divided-attention tasks.
I had hoped for some sort of encouraging “Congratulations! You’re a superb driver!” message. Instead, the CogniFit program promised to work on my weak points via 24 computer-based training sessions to be taken over a couple of months.
The program can also be used at the other end of the dangerous-driver spectrum: new teenage drivers. According to N.T.H.S.A., teenage drivers are the only age group more dangerous than retirees and are involved in three times the fatal crashes of all other drivers. A frightening statistic indeed, and one that has encouraged some driving instruction courses to use DriveFit to augment in-car training.
The British School of Motoring uses CogniFit software for training, as does Young Drivers of Canada, a driving school based in Ontario, which has used the DriveFit program with students for more than two years, Peter Christianson, the company’s president, said it trained 30,000 students a year, and each has a DriveFit assessment “before they go into the car so our instructors know their weaknesses.”
Studies conducted by CogniFit with the departments of motor vehicles in New York and Maryland found that of the 259 people participating in the tests, 95 had weakness in risk-taking and perception. In subsequent driving-simulator tests, members of this group indeed had twice the accidents of the rest of the group
But such results are far from conclusive. Clicking on a mouse while staring at a computer screen can’t completely predict how a driver will behave behind the wheel of his own car on the road with other drivers, said Anne McCartt, senior vice president for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
“So while research has shown a relationship between cognitive measures and crashes, the research is not precise enough to identify a particular driver as being a high risk,” she said. So such tests shouldn’t be used as the sole determination of whether to suspend an older driver’s license or restrict a teenage driver’s permit, Ms. McCartt said.
Nevertheless, companies like CogniFit said cognitive assessments could help D.M.V.’s and insurance companies determine which drivers may need additional instruction. In fact, Michael Farrara planned to open this spring a high-tech driving program at the Driving Center in Hillsborough, N.J. The three-month-long program will rely solely on driving simulators for instruction and use DriveFit’s software for cognitive assessment and training.
While such training is too new to conclusively determine its effectiveness, I’m going to finish mine. After all, it couldn’t hurt.
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