Longitudinal Assessment of Older Drivers in a DMV Setting

A brief battery of functional assessments designed to detect crash risk among older drivers was developed and evaluated initially in 1999 in Maryland motor vehicle licensing sites following the routine vision screening exam. This battery contained a number of cognitive tests (e.g., UFOV® subtest 2, the closure subtest of the Motor Free Visual Perception Test (MVPT), Trails A and B, cued recall, delayed recall), and several physical measures (e.g., Rapid Pace Walk, Head and Neck Rotation, Foot Tap, Arm Reach). Older adults (N=4,173; mean age = 69 years) were approached by the staff after license renewal and asked to help evaluate the brief battery. Of the 4,173 older adults approached at the field sites, 2,114 individuals 55-96 years of age participated. Subsequently, the original sample of 2,114 participants was invited to come in once again, during their five-year license renewal cycle, and the functional tests were administered once again. To date, 939 individuals have completed the second screening evaluation. An examination of the crash data from the interval between assessments for these individuals indicates that the same cognitive measures are predictive of at-fault crashes. Furthermore, approximately 10% of those passing the assessment in 1999 are now failing the assessment in 2004. Performance-based cognitive measures are predictive of future at-fault motor vehicle collisions among older adults. Cognitive performance, in particular, is a salient predictor of subsequent crash involvement among older adults. High-risk older drivers can be identified through brief, performance-based measures administered in a DMV setting.