Safe and Unsafe Performance of Older Drivers: A Descriptive Study

• Main Authors: Malfetti, James L, Winter, Darlene J
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: 1987
• Subjects: Critical Incidents Method; Driver Education; Driver Performance; Motor Vehicles; Observation; Older Adults; Traffic Accidents; Traffic Safety

This document describes a study that used the "critical incident technique" to define and produce a descriptive classification of safe and unsafe driving behavior exhibited by adults and to organize these descriptions for use in older driver improvement courses and other educational activities. An introduction describes the study's purpose and the critical incident technique. A section on methodology describes the study sample, data collection methods, the analysis of critical incidents, and interjudge reliability. The section on results describes the study's limitations, presents the driving behaviors identified by the study in tabular form as representing a taxonomy made up of three major categories (driving practices, physical conditions, and attitude) and 35 subcategories, and provides a detailed discussion of each of these categories. Forty-four references and four appendices are included. Appendices A-C contain the data collection forms on which critical incidents were collected, instructions for the forms, instructions for a test of interjudge reliability, and the list of prime categories the subcategories. Appendix D, which constitutes over half the document, contains descriptions of safe and unsafe driving practices selected from the more than 1,000 collected during the study. Most appear in the words in which they were received from the participants who described the critical incidents and all are organized by category and subcategory. (CML)