Examining the Effects of Passenger Conversation on Older Adult Driving

Abstract

Older adults have impaired driving performance compared to other age groups, and auditory stimuli has adverse effects on driving performance (Karthaus & Falkenstein, 2016). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to expand knowledge of driving and passenger conversation within the older adult population. Participants (n = 17) completed a drive of 7.8 miles on a driving simulator twice; once without conversation and again with conversation. Both drives used the same simulated driving tasks to examine driving performance with and without conversation. Participants exhibited poorer driving performance from the first drive without conversation to the second drive with conversation, specifically in time over the speed limit and average speed. Descriptive statistics also indicated that participants demonstrated poorer driving performance between the first drive and the second drive. Taken together, these findings indicated that passenger conversation negatively impacted driving performance in older adults. Therefore, older adults should be cautious about engaging in conversation while driving, as it can impair their safety.