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DRIVING SKILLS FACT SHEET1. Cognitive and perceptual skills are a major predictive factor in your crash risk profile2. Driver behaviour has a major impact on fuel efficiency / carbon emissions 3. Cognitive and perceptual skills start declining around the age of 304. Cognitive and perceptual skills can be enhanced via training

1. Cognitive and perceptual skills are a major predictive factor in your crash risk profile

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Car accidents are the cause of thousands of deaths throughout the world. Driving is considered to be one of the most cognitively complicated tasks we will engage in on a regular basis. While driving, our brain is forced to process information at a speed that is far greater than the speed for which it was originally programmed. In response to the human factors and the need for high cognitive functioning for safe driving. CogniFit Fleet Driver™ - a program to overcome the cognitive deficits that account for most road accidents, was developed and utilised in several studies.

How accurate is cognitive data as an indicator of involvement in a traffic accident? A study was conducted to find out...

MethodThe largest driving school in Canada was selected for the study. 168 driving instructors agreed to participate. The CogniFit Fleet Driver™ assessment program was used to gather data regarding their cognitive levels. The drivers “at fault” accident data was then given to the researchers. Accidents that were caused by a third person were excluded from the analysis, leaving only accidents that were caused by the instructors themselves.

Results➡ 29 drivers (17%) had an “at-fault” accident.➡ 26 (89.7%) of them were identified correctly by the program➡ 139 drivers were not involved in a car accident➡ 122 (87.8%) were correctly identified by the program

89.7% accuratePredicting drivers who would be involved in an “at-fault accident

Predicting drivers who would not be involved in an “at-fault accident 87.8% accurate

Proactive Ageing is a member of the Elite Minds network

Mental performance starts declining at age 30 however the good news is that most driving-related cognitive skills can be enhanced with the right training at any age.

Drivers progressively develop a series of driving strategies which compensate for their declining skills. For example, a driver who is slow to react gradually learns to keep an ever greater distance from the car ahead. This provides more time to respond when that car slows down or stops. This compensatory strategy is a proper and necessary thing to do, but it also disguises the driverʼs slowing reaction time. Unfortunately when an emergency occurs, such as a child leaping out onto the road, the driverʼs inability to react rapidly may have fatal consequences. In this situation, the compensatory strategy is of no benefit.

The older the driver, the more compensatory strategies adopted. These strategies while useful for day to day driving have little effect in emergencies when the core underlying cognitive skills are called upon. The driverʼs profile changes from having strong core cognitive skills to relying more on compensatory strategies. Driving by itself cannot improve these underlying skills as well as specific brain exercises can. Training these then provides a broader combination of skills to draw on – both core cognitive abilities and compensatory strategies.

2. Driver behaviour has a major impact on fuel efficiency / carbon emissions

Driver behaviour - including cognitive skills - can translate into huge cost savings via greater fuel efficiency, which in turn means lower carbon emissions. As Michael Roeth, executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency, put it, "Between the worst driver and the best driver, the difference in fuel economy can be up to 25 percent.” 

Roeth told Josie Garthwaite from National Geographic News that “at current diesel prices each one percent improvement in fuel economy saves approximately USD $900 per truck annually”. 

Strong cognitive and perceptual skills can improve fuel efficiency through improved planning, awareness and anticipation skills:

➡ Better anticipation of traffic flow through strong visual scanning plus time, speed and direction assessment skills➡ Better utilisation of the mass of the vehicle to maintain momentum➡ Promoting smoother driving by reducing the incidences of harsh braking, incorrect gear selection and over revving.

3. Cognitive and perceptual skills start declining around the age of 30

"Between the worst driver and the best driver, the difference in fuel economy can be up to 25 percent.” 

The good news is that most driving-related cognitive skills can be enhanced with the right training at any age .

Targetting Specific Driving SkillsThe following items are all different mental skills and need to be individually trained to improve and/or maintain good performance. Everyone will tend to be good at some of these skills and less good at others. Just like sports coaches who break down what their athletes do and train individual skills in specific ways. Proactive Ageing will assess all of these skills then provide you with a targeted training program that broadly exercises all of these skills but focuses in specifically on the ones in which you need the most attention. The goal is to have all these mental functions operating at a high level. The program comes complete with online reporting and benchmarking for the two major personality traits and ten cognitive & perceptual skills essential for safe driving.

➡ Focus: Maintaining concentration, ignoring distractions➡ Confidence: Realistic appraisal of abilities and limitations ➡ Reaction Time: Reacting quickly to sudden and unexpected events➡ Field of Vision: Peripheral vision, awareness of vehicles and pedestrians➡ Changing Plans: Quickly abandoning unsafe manoeuvres➡ Visual Scanning: Adjusting to changing traffic conditions as they are occurring ➡ Divided Attention: Safely operating the vehicle while observing surroundings➡ Short-Term Memory: Enhances focus and driving in unfamiliar places➡ Eye-Hand Coordination: Smooth movements maintain vehicle stability➡ Estimation of Speed and Distance: Braking distances, merging with traffic➡ Obeying Regulations: behaving in a safe an expected way for all road users➡ Risk Taking: consistently making low risk decisions, even in unusual circumstances

These distinct skills and personality traits are measured on a scale on 1 to 5, 5 being optimal, and on overall risk rating (at-fault collision risk) rating is provided as well.

Major insurance houses around the world such as MG-ARD (a division of AXA), and Allstate Insurance (USA) are providing significant incentives and benefits to clients who undergo cognitive assessment and/or training. This is because research shows that human error accounts for 93% of motor vehicle accidents. Introducing initiatives that reduce claims means that they can improve profit margins whilst still offering significant inducements.

The software referred to is CogniFit Fleet Driver TM Copyright© 2010 CogniFit Ltd. The products and services related thereto are covered by US Patent No.6 ,632,174

4. Cognitive and perceptual skills can be enhanced via training

Make sure that your CV stands out from the crowd

Sharpen your driving related cognitive domains and demonstrate to prospective employers that youʼre committed and proactive about being a safer, more economical driver.

Contact Proactive Ageing today:

Steve Zanon

1300 243 243

enquiries@proactive-ageing.com