Grant: Operating Grant

Background: In North America, driving a motor vehicle has become an essential activity of daily living for many people. The loss of driving privileges for older adults with chronic health problems has been shown to increase dependence and contribute to social isolation, depression and loss of self-esteem. It is therefore important to keep older drivers safely on the road for as long as possible. The medical community, general public and transportation authorities have called for a scientifically-based method to assess medical fitness to drive in the older population. Over the past 5 years, the CIHR Team in Driving in Older Persons (Candrive) Research Program has made significant progress in collecting data to identify predictors of medically at risk drivers. However, continuation of this study is required to reach the necessary number of outcomes of at-fault motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) to create the required risk stratification tool. Objectives: 1) To complete the development of an evidence-based clinical prediction rule/risk stratification tool to identify older drivers who are at risk for a MVC; 2) To develop an evidence-based prediction rule to assist transport administrators in a license renewal setting to identify older drivers at risk for a MVC; and, 3) To validate the derived prediction rule on an independent sample of older drivers. Methods: This study will continue to follow older drivers (928 recruited at baseline) aged 70 and over from 6 Canadian sites in 3 provinces. Annual comprehensive physical, cognitive and driving behaviour assessments along with continued in-vehicle recording of driving patterns will allow for a full 5 years of follow-up for all participants. Implications of Research: With ongoing support from community and government stakeholders, integration of these study results into clinical and transport administration settings will result in a reduction of MVCs in conjunction with maintaining independence and mobility in older drivers.