Study looks at safety of older drivers

Source: ctvwinnipeg.ca

MANITOBA - Researchers in Manitoba are studying older drivers and looking for ways to give doctors tools to judge who is safe and who isn't on the road.

Michelle Porter, a researcher at the University of Manitoba, is doing a number of different tests on older drivers, including examining reflexes and eyesight.

Porter wants to test the driving habits of 1,000 drivers over the age of 70. Researchers will install a GPS unit into the vehicles of older drivers to monitor their habits, including speed.

"There (is) probably a very small number that might be driving that shouldn't be. And those are the kinds of people that we would hope to in the future have physicians predict," said Porter.

Porter says some elderly drivers may lose their licenses but others will stay on the road longer, because doctors know they're safe drivers.

84-year-old Reinhard Jansson has been driving for nearly 70 years, first getting behind the wheel on the family farm in Germany. He says because his health is good, he feels safe behind the wheel.

Porter says most older drivers are good drivers and points towards numbers that prove it. According to MPI, drivers over the age of 65 years are involved in roughly 360 collisions per 10,000 drivers. Teens aged 16 to 19 had a rate of 1,000 collisions per 10,000 drivers.