Driving-Related Cognitive Abilities: Evaluating Change over Time in a Sample of Older Adults Undergoing an Assessment Regarding Fitness to Drive

Abstract

Advancing age can bring a decline in many driving-related cognitive abilities. For this reason, public safety concern has raised about older adults’ driving performance, and many countries have adopted screening polices to assess older drivers’ fitness to drive. As a result of such assessments, authorities may impose behavioral restrictions to driving. The present study examines whether driving-related cognitive abilities change over time and compares drivers either restricted or not by licensing authorities after the first assessment. The data were derived from a database provided by a service of psychodiagnostic assessment of fitness to drive. This database contained data of people referred for cognitive assessment in order to renew their driving license over the period of 2016 to 2022. The sample included 58 cognitively healthy old drivers (mean age = 82.79, SD = 6.13; 97% men) with a follow-up examination (T2) after a period ranging from one to four years (M = 1.59, SD = 0.72) since the first assessment. Cognitive assessments were conducted using the standard test battery from the Vienna Test System (VTS8; ©Schuhfried GmbH, Mödling, Austria). Decision time variability, motor time, reaction time under stress, and obtaining an overview did not show significant changes between T1 and T2, whereas selective attention and inductive reasoning significantly decreased over time in both groups. Improvements in processing speed consistent with practice effects emerged at T2. Restricted drivers (n = 41) maintained significantly worse performances than unrestricted drivers (n = 17) in the follow-up assessment. Chronological age was associated with higher reaction time under stress, while education showed a buffering role against a decrease in perceptual speed. Overall, although older drivers’ driving-related cognitive abilities remain relatively stable over the short-term, the decline in some cognitive functions deserves reevaluation and monitoring.