As more and more elderly drivers retain their licenses, lowering traffic traffic accident rates among elderly drivers is a growing concern.A San Francisco-based company is now proposing that video games can improve the driving of the elderly.Posit Science has sponsored studies that show that its driver training software for elderly drivers does help minimize the risk of accidents involving the elderly.
The study divided 908 people into four groups. The average age of the group members was 72 years. One group was given the Posit Science games to play for 10 hours, the second was given training on improving reasoning skills, and the third group was given training on improving memory skills. The fourth group was given no aid at all. After six years, the researchers found that the elderly persons who were given the Posit Science games to play reported a 50% lower rate of accidents, than those who took the memory training and those who had no stimulation at all.
Posit Science claims that it is currently conducting more studies using its video games to help elderly motorists avoid accidents. As Atlanta car accident attorneys, we are not sure how we should take the results of a study that is conducted by the company that markets the products. However, it is good to see that there’s a lot of awareness in the market about the specific concerns relating to elderly motorists and their risks of accidents.
Those concerns were very apparent this weekend at a forum sponsored by the National Transportation Safety Board. The forum was targeted specifically at the safety concerns of elderly motorists, and NTSB chairperson Debra Hersman made it clear that her agency takes these issues, very seriously. By 2005, the senior motorist population in our country is expected to swell from 15% currently, to 20%. Right now, there are 32 million drivers above the age of 65 in the US, and those numbers would simply explode when the baby boomer population eases into its 70s. There are more licensed elderly motorists now than there have ever been in the past in our country’s history, and the challenges facing transportation agencies is considerable.