Scientific approaches to evaluate fitness to drive in elderly people and the people with dementia

Etsuo Horikawa

Brain & Mobility Research Laboratory Division of Cognitive Neuropsychology Graduate School of Medicine, Saga University

Dementia is a major problem on overall health and maintaining safe mobility in aging societies in the world. In Japan, the number of people with dementia has been increasing. Cognitive impairment is one of the strong risk factors of traffic accidents, we need the good evaluation method to evaluate fitness to drive for the elderly people. The author reviewed many studies, first, on the risk factors of traffic accidents and age-related declines in functional abilities of driving skills. Then, currently used major methods were reviewed including neuropsychological test, driving simulator test, and actual driving evaluation. In addition, the studies using functional brain imaging and continuously recording method on driving behavior were also discussed. Finally, the effects of older adulthood driving retirement and other community mobility options were discussed.
We have to develop an easy to use and effective method to evaluate fitness to drive.

Address correspondence to Dr. Etsuo Horikawa, Brain & Mobility Research Laboratory Division of Cognitive Neuropsychology Graduate School of Medicine, Saga University (5-1-1 Nabeshima, Saga city, SAGA, 849-8501 Japan)