Mr. Magoo, a cartoon regular of early television, was notorious for his hazardous driving. He was a retiree, befuddled and extremely nearsighted, yet he continued to drive despite these obvious failings. In the opening sequence to his long-running show, he had run-ins with a railroad train, a haystack and several barn animals, a roller coaster, a fire hydrant, a mud hole and a high voltage line—all while honking his horn and shouting, “Road hog!”

As we look back, this montage seems like a cruel stereotype of the elderly, especially older drivers. Yet as with all caricatures, the one of Mr. Magoo had a grain of truth in it. The fact is that, mile for mile, senior drivers do have higher crash rates than all other drivers, other than teenagers. Even normal aging is accompanied by declines in vision, cognitive sharpness and physical ability. Isn't it logical that this bad driving would result from these deficits of aging, as the Mr. Magoo stereotype suggests?

Maybe not, says psychological scientist Alexander Pollatsek of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Pollatsek has been working with colleagues in the university's engineering school to systematically analyze the behavior of older drivers—including their visual scanning of the roads—and his evidence challenges the presumed connection between crashes and these well-known deficits. His work suggests these drivers' mistakes may result from learned habits, which may be correctable.

Look Left, Look Right

Pollatsek and his colleagues have been studying a particular class of accidents in which the elderly, especially those older than 70, are disproportionately involved: right-of-way crashes. These crashes occur when one driver fails to yield properly to another driver at an intersection of some kind. Experts have long assumed that these crashes occur when an elderly driver either cannot see the other car, is distracted and loses concentration or is physically compromised in some way. Pollatsek's group decided to test these assumptions.

The scientists used driving simulators to analyze the visual scanning of both older and middle-aged drivers in realistic driving conditions. Drivers experienced long uneventful stretches of road, punctuated by scenarios involving intersections. For example, a driver might come to a stop sign at a T intersection, which would require yielding to a driver approaching from the left. Or the driver might need to make a left turn across traffic at a four-way intersection with a traffic light. Each scenario contained a visual area that required monitoring for other, perhaps obscured, vehicles approaching with right-of-way. The drivers typically had three seconds to detect and respond to an oncoming vehicle.

Breaking Bad Habits

The scientists measured precisely how long the drivers spent glancing at the potential threat areas as they approached and entered these intersections. Their findings were somewhat unexpected. As reported online February 3 in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, the older drivers spent significantly less time monitoring these critical visual regions than did the younger drivers. More important, there were no distractions in the simulations—pedestrians, for example—that might cause this poor scanning. Nor were the older drivers less capable of looking around; indeed, they looked around just as much as the younger drivers in general—just not when they should have been attentive to potential threats. In short, a failure to scan for potential hazards was by itself a cause of the crashes—rather than visual, cognitive or physical deficits.

So why are older drivers not watchful in risky situations? Here is where the findings get really interesting. The scientists' measurements suggest that this group of drivers were not mindful because they were spending significantly more time looking straight ahead. In other words, they were not scanning to their left and right, as they should have been, because they were looking elsewhere—in front of their car. The researchers believe that, over time, older drivers become intensely focused on not hitting anything directly in front of the car—to the exclusion of other goals. It is a habit and not a bad one for most routine driving; in intersections, however, the habit is perilous.

7 Comments

1. 1. JDoors 11:01 AM 6/25/12

   "For example, a driver might come to a stop sign at a T intersection, which would require yielding to a driver approaching from the left."
   
   I hope, for the sake of brevity, a few necessary details were left out of this scenario.

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2. 2. Cornelio at Zepponami 04:22 PM 6/25/12

   The photo in the heading of the article suggested to me a new research item. Science, please tell me why car drivers wearing hats or caps while driving are the worst of all? Tip: to get really significant results, concentrate on drivers who also smoke a cigar. I suggest rural Italy as the most promising field for the study.

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3. 3. Crasher in reply to Cornelio at Zepponami 05:28 PM 6/25/12

   Have to agree with the hat wearing drivers comment....not very scientific but seems to be a real phenomena!
   On a positive note, anything that can improve safety on the road has to be a good thing. This seems like a really simple method to improve older drivers and may work for younger drivers as well. I think anyone that sees their behaviour from a 3rd person perspective can gain some real insites to what they are doing.
   

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4. 4. Geopelia 07:52 AM 6/26/12

   This would be for American drivers who drive on the right.
   In New Zealand we drive on the left.
   They have recently changed our "right hand rule" and we have had to relearn what to do at intersections,and who gives way.
   It is now illegal here to use a hand held mobile phone, especially for texting, while driving. But people still do it.
   
   (I got my driving licence for a motorbike in 1948, and my car licence soon after.)

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5. 5. LarryW 11:42 AM 6/27/12

   Great article. No question older drivers have the problems described, but it is also the case the younger drivers do also. I notice this daily during my daily walks and drives. I would guess 50% of drivers are inattentive and are passively driving, especially when the car is not moving.
   
   My position is if you're behind the wheel, you are driving regardless of whether the vehicle is moving or not. My experience is that at least 50% of drivers who are stopped at a stop sign, or waiting for their turn to enter traffic simply face straight ahead or only to the left watching oncoming traffic. They are for the most part thoroughly unaware of bikes, pedestrians or any other aspects of the environment when the car is not moving. That is, most drivers assume no responsibility for driving as soon as the vehicle stops.
   
   My guess is older drivers were bad drivers long before they got old.

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6. 6. Wayne Williamson 06:41 PM 6/27/12

   I think this is a very interesting find...I thought of discussing it with my father(in his 80s) and it sounds like that doesn't work. Now I'm wondering how to get him to take the visual test described...if I can find it and if he agrees...

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7. 7. Joseph C Moore, Cpo USN Ret 07:43 PM 6/28/12

   Safe driving is a result of continual usage of awareness practices. This includes active monitoring of the traffic ahead, behind and to both sides and always looking for dangerous manuevering of those vehicles and where they can be avoided.
   Aggressive driving seems par for the course for many whom I suspect initiate the dangerous situation for elderly drivers with less than Le Mans reflexes. Of course, the increased traffic of today coupled with ingrained patterns of driving awareness from yesteryear will make for a dangerous mix in the saturated driving environment of today. Driving has to be a continuous appreciation of the changing conditions of today's traffic. Undoubtably an 80 year old's reflexes have slowed but awareness as a practiced habit should not.

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