Most older adults perceive themselves as good drivers; however, their perception may not be accurate, and could negatively affect their driving safety. This study examined the accuracy of older drivers’ self-awareness of driving ability in their everyday driving environment by determining the concordance between the perceived (assessed by the Perceived Driving Ability [PDA] questionnaire) and actual (assessed by electronic Driving Observation Schedule [eDOS]) driving performance. One hundred and eight older drivers (male: 67.6%; age: mean = 80.6 years, standard deviation [SD] = 4.9 years) who participated in the study were classified into three groups: underestimation (19%), accurate estimation (29%), and overestimation (53%). Using the demographic and clinical functioning information collected in the Candrive annual assessments, an ordinal regression showed that two factors were related to the accuracy of self-awareness: older drivers with better visuo-motor processing speed measured by the Trail Making Test (TMT)-A and fewer self-reported comorbid conditions tended to overestimate their driving ability, and vice versa.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether vehicle type based on size (car vs. other = truck/van/SUV) had an impact on the speeding, acceleration, and braking patterns of older male and female drivers (70 years and older) from a Canadian longitudinal study. The primary hypothesis was that older adults driving larger vehicles (e.g., trucks, SUVs, or vans) would be more likely to speed than those driving cars. Participants (n = 493) had a device installed in their vehicles that recorded their everyday driving. The findings suggest that the type of vehicle driven had little or no impact on per cent of time speeding or on the braking and accelerating patterns of older drivers. Given that the propensity for exceeding the speed limit was high among these older drivers, regardless of vehicle type, future research should examine what effect this behaviour has on older-driver road safety.

A continuum mixture model of coupled ice-sheet/ice-stream dynamics has been developed within a conventional three-dimensional finite-difference model framework. The ice mass is areally divided into sheet-ice and stream-ice components. Dynamic evolution of each component is solved with coupling terms to describe mass exchange between flows. In this way, ice-stream fluxes can be incorporated in a rigorous dynamical model with only a doubling of computational cost. This paper presents simple model tests using the EISMINT experimental ice block, a 1500 km × 1500 km ice sheet which rests on a flat bed. Ice-stream behaviour is investigated for a range of coupling rules and activation scenarios. In simple tests presented here, we find that the viscous response time of source ice feeding the ice stream may be a factor limiting ice-stream vigour and longevity.

In this study, we examined the Candrive baseline data (n = 928; aged 70 to 94; 62% were men) to determine whether driver characteristics (i.e., age, gender, height, weight, BMI) and certain functional abilities (i.e., Rapid Paced Walk, Timed Up and Go) influenced the types of vehicles driven. There were significant differences with respect to type of vehicle and mean driver age (F = 3.58, p = 0.003), height, (F = 13.32, p < 0.001), weight (F = 14.31, p < 0.001), and BMI (F = 4.40, p = 0.001). A greater proportion of drivers with osteoporosis (χ2 = 21.23, p = 0.020) and osteo/rheumatoid arthritis (χ2 = 21.23, p = 0.020) drove small and medium-sized cars compared to larger ones. Further research is needed to examine older driver-vehicle interactions, and the relationship to demographics and functional abilities, given the vulnerability of this age group to automotive-related injuries.

The purpose of this study was to determine if season or weather affected the objectively measured trip distances of older drivers (≥ 70 years; n = 279) at seven Canadian sites. During winter, for all trips taken, trip distance was 7 per cent shorter when controlling for site and whether the trip occurred during the day. In addition, for trips taken within city limits, trip distance was 1 per cent shorter during winter and 5 per cent longer during rain when compared to no precipitation when controlling for weather (or season respectively), time of day, and site. At night, trip distance was about 30 per cent longer when controlling for season and site (and weather), contrary to expectations. Together, these results suggest that older Canadian drivers alter their trip distances based on season, weather conditions, and time of day, although not always in the expected direction.

This study examined a cohort of 227 older drivers and investigated the relationship between performance on the electronic Driver Observation Schedule (eDOS) driving task and: (1) driver characteristics; (2) functional abilities; (3) perceptions of driving comfort and abilities; and (4) self-reported driving restrictions. Participants (male: 70%; age: M = 81.53 years, SD = 3.37 years) completed a series of functional ability measures and scales on perceived driving comfort, abilities, and driving restrictions from the Year 2 Candrive/Ozcandrive assessment protocol, along with an eDOS driving task. Observations of participants’ driving behaviours during the driving task were recorded for intersection negotiation, lane-changing, merging, low-speed maneuvers, and maneuver-free driving. eDOS driving task scores were high (M = 94.74; SD = 5.70) and significantly related to participants’ perceived driving abilities, reported frequency of driving in challenging situations, and number of driving restrictions. Future analyses will explore potential changes in driving task scores over time.