If you’re thinking that little old lady driving 35 miles per
hour in the passing lane shouldn’t be behind the wheel, you may be right.
Studies at Rhode Island Hospital, and elsewhere, have shown that our driving
abilities decline with age, and for those with cognitive issues such as dementia,
it can be even worse.
A standardized road test – much like the one teenagers take
to receive their learner’s permit and driver’s license – is often used to
measure an individual’s performance, including those of older adults. But
researchers at the Rhode Island Hospital’s Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory
Disorders Center went a step further, installing cameras in the personal
vehicles of test subjects for two weeks, and then comparing their performance
to the standardized test. The study is published in the November 2012 issue of
the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.