The Hazard Perception Ability of Older Drivers

We investigated the hazard perception ability of older drivers. A sample of 118 older drivers (65 years and older) completed a video-based hazard perception test and an assessment battery designed to measure aspects of cognitive ability, vision, and simple reaction time that might plausibly be linked to hazard perception ability. We found that hazard perception response times increased significantly with age but that this age-related increase could be accounted for by measures of contrast sensitivity and useful field of view. We found that contrast sensitivity, useful field of view, and simple reaction time could account for the variance in hazard perception, independent of one another and of individual differences in age. Key Words: Contrast sensitivity—Hazard perception—Useful field of view. H AZARD perception ability has been suggested to be animportant factor in determining crash risk in older adults (Watzke & Smith, 1994). However, there has been relatively little research examining this skill in older individuals. In the context of driving, hazard perception ability, defined as the ability of individuals to anticipate potentially dangerous situations on the road ahead, has been identified as one of the few measures of driving-specific skills that correlate with crash risk (Horswill & McKenna, 2004). It has typically been assessed by measuring response times to hazardous traffic situations presented on film o