Implication of the Cognitive Functions and Personality Traits on Tactical Compensation Among Older Drivers: A Gender Comparison

Driving is a complex task involving visual, cognitive and psychomotor skills, many of which are impaired with aging. In spite of functional decline, older drivers’ accident risk is not as serious as we could expect. This is explained by the fact that they compensate their driving at different levels. For instance, they avoid complex traffic situations, driving in the dark or in the rain (examples of strategic compensation), and they drive slower with larger following distance (examples of tactical compensation). Conversely to strategic compensation, tactical compensation has rarely been studied. Literature demonstrates that there are gender-related discrepancies in compensation, and that tactical compensation is correlated with cognitive performances. Additionally, other psychological factors like personality, which have been much less studied among older drivers, could be important in the adoption of such compensation. For instance, sensation seeking and extraversion have been linked with risky driving behaviour among young and middle age drivers. Locus of control, which reflects the degree to which a person generally perceives events to be under his/her own control (internal locus of control) or under the control of powerful others or other outside forces (external locus of control), is a crucial psychological factor determining a driver’s behavioural adaptation. Finally, coping style, defined as person's characteristic strategies used in response to stressful situations, is a concept very close to strategic and tactical compensation. The objectives of this study were first to explore age and gender differences in tactical compensation, and secondly to determine which cognitive abilities and personality traits are related to tactical compensation for males and females among healthy old drivers. An experiment was conducted in France from April 2006 to July 2007. A sample of 126 drivers, aged between 20 and 82, split in three age groups (young, middle age and older drivers) were randomly recruited in the drivers’ population, were asked to drive 150 miles on open roads and finally completed a series of cognitive tests and psychological questionnaires. During the trip, the authors recorded four kinds of data: drivers’ actions, drivers’ comments, car dynamic and road environment characteristics. The results show different patterns in tactical compensation for males and females. Older women have less compensation than older men. Although, with aging, men report an increase in tactical compensation, older women's compensation is similar to young and middle age women. The authors also observe that tactical compensation is explained differently for older men and older women. Elderly men with high tactical compensation are more external, less internal (locus of control) and use more avoidant coping. Elderly women with high tactical compensation have lower scores on tests accessing cognitive performance. This study highlights the importance to take gender and personality into account, in addition to cognitive functions, on older driver research, screening procedures and training program.