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Technology could boost abilities of aging motorists
Some of the increased safety risks created by a growing population of aging motorists could be offset if new technology was developed to enhance their driving abilities.
That is the conclusion of one of the research teams working for AGILE - a European Union-funded organisation investigating mobility and an aging population. The EU is expecting the proportion of aged motorist driving on European roads to increase from 12% now to 20% by 2010.
The researchers, lead by Helen Middleton of Britain's Institute for Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice, are recommending development of a series of new systems including a warning device helping the elderly better judge speed and distance. They also suggest another device that will automatically accelerate a car if the driver is travelling too slowly to merge safely into a gap of streaming traffic.
The recommendations fit neatly with medical observations of the deteriorating driving performance of aging motorists and support arguments put last year by Ireland's Professor Des O'Neill that more should be done to keep the elderly independently mobile. (See: TransScan April 2003 page 6)
Now Ms Middleton has told a conference of car manufacturers in Japan that tests by her research team have shown that a natural slow down in decision making by elderly drivers is the key problem. "Future technologies must compensate in those areas where there are clear performance deficits," she said.
The scan also showed:
Zapping wrong-doers
The electronics and computer systems now fitted as standard equipment to every new car have ushered the development of new technology that will let police stop vehicles with a powerful blast of radio waves. The device is said to "knock out" a targeted car's vital electronics at a range of up to 50 metres. Police in Britain and the US are now testing it.
Animating rage
Would giving cars the capability to show "emotions" - like "pleasure" and "anger" - create a safer and more joyful atmosphere for people driving on congested roads? Four inventors working with Toyota believe it would and have just patented the concept in Japan. In practice the driver of an "emotional vehicle" would feed details of their own mood into the car's computer system. In turn, the car would combine the data with what the car's monitoring system observed about prevailing traffic conditions. The net result would be a car whose roof turned red if another car cut in, or wagged its antenna if pleased.
Costly risks
Men and boys are not only involved in more pedestrian accidents but the medical cost of their injuries is significantly higher too, according to a study by the Injury Risk Management Research Centre at the University of NSW. The centre analysed pedestrian deaths and injuries in NSW for the financial year 1999-2000 and found males involved in 60% of the accidents. But according to the centre's senior researcher, Dr Julie Hatfield, their medical costs averaged $38,130 - 20% higher than that for a female pedestrian accident victim. She said the differences could be explained by greater risk taking among males.
Serious injuries
Latest statistics for Australia as a whole show males figure prominently in all categories of serious road injuries and not just among pedestrians. But, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, serious injuries among pedestrians are actually showing signs of decline - at least during the period of the bureau's survey. The ATSB report, "Serious Injuries Due to Road Crashes" shows that for the six months January to June 2002 (the last period measured by the report) total serious pedestrian injuries for the period were 1260 - 770 of them male. That was the lowest figure shown in the three years covered by the survey. Nonetheless overall there are still about 22,000 people being seriously injured each year on Australian roads - 11 for every one person killed. For statistical purposes, seriously injured people are defined as those who spend at least one night in hospital. ATSB says the prevalence of head injuries among car occupants are causing the most concern, although there has also been an increase in neck injuries too - again among car occupants.
