VARIABILITY IN THE DISTRACTED DRIVING BEHAVIORS OF OLDER ADULTS

• Published in: Innovation in aging Vol. 1; no. suppl_1; p. 1196
• Main Authors: Freed, S., Stavrinos, D., Ross, L.A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: US Oxford University Press 01-07-2017
• Subjects: Abstracts
• ISSN: 2399-5300; 2399-5300
• DOI: 10.1093/geroni/igx004.4354

Naturalistic driving technologies are increasingly utilized to objectively assess driving in a real-world setting. However, use of such technologies often requires extensive data reduction efforts which may limit important information about how one’s driving behaviors differ from trip to trip. This study aimed to describe driving behaviors (i.e., distracted driving behaviors) in a sample of older adults, as well as the variability of these behaviors within a person. We analyzed data from 72 healthy community-dwelling older adults (55% female, mean age=72.3 years, range 65–85 years) from the Senior and Adolescent Naturalistic Driving Study (SANDS). Information on participant distracted driving behaviors was collected from driving trips taken over a two-week period via photos taken of the vehicle interior. Distracted driving behaviors included cell phone use, talking with a passenger, reaching, eating, drinking, and grooming. Results from intraclass correlation coefficients obtained from multilevel models indicated that a large proportion of the variance in distracted driving behaviors was related to differences within driving trips, compared to differences between participants. The amount of variance attributable to within-person differences varied depending on behavior, ranging from 1% (talking on cell phone) to 19% (eating). Future work in older adult driving should consider within-person variability of distracted driving behaviors and examine how context and timing, such as time of day, weather, or physical function, may influence the likelihood of a person performing a certain behavior in the moment. Further implications and future directions will be discussed.