Dick O’Donnell hopes to bust some myths about senior drivers.
The 74-year-old is a participant in a five-year study that tracks the driving patterns of Canadian seniors in order to ensure safety on the road.
“I think a lot of people think older drivers are driving slower, that they get into more accidents, that they tend to be responsible for holding up traffic,” O’Donnell said Thursday morning.
While he doesn’t believe seniors are as aggressive behind the wheel as some 20-somethings, he hopes the study will help disprove the myth of the “little old lady in her car” holding up traffic.
O’Donnell is one of about 75 local participants in the nationwide study, which just celebrated the end of year three. There are 1,200 participants in seven cities across the country.
Each participant has a GPS tracking device installed in their car that tracks their driving habits. The information is downloaded four times per year and once a year, the participants undergo an exam to test their reflexes, eye sight and other cognitive abilities.
Spearheading the local investigation is Canadian chair of aging and health Michel Bedard, also a professor at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine’s Thunder Bay campus.
He said the aim of the study is to come up with a way to keep drivers on the road as long as possible while maintaining safety.
Once the five years is up, they hope to take the collected data and develop an effective tool for determining whether or not an individual should be driving.
“We don’t want people to lose their licenses because some tools are being used and are not being adequately tested,” he said. “Participants will collect lots of data and hopefully we’ll have a really strong methodology to allow us to have a very useful tool in the end.”
The program will also help researchers identify people who may need assistance to drive better and to develop training and assessment programs, possibly using simulators. It will also look at how cars can be engineered to support seniors.
“Our population’s aging,” said Bedard. “Driving is very important for people. Quality of life and independence, we need a car. It’s certainly true if you live in Thunder Bay or the region. We want to make sure people will be safe to drive.”
