Doctors may soon be in a better position to gauge whether older drivers are still fit for the road, thanks to a new nationwide study involving research being conducted at the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management.

“The main goal of the project is to determine tests that could be used by physicians to decide who is fit to drive,” says Dr. Michelle Porter, one of the co-investigators on the recently-launched Candrive (Canadian Driving Research Initiative for Vehicular Safety) project.

“Physicians in most provinces are required by law to report those who are not medically fit to drive, but there’s a lot of controversy, and a lot of physicians are uncomfortable doing it. One of the reasons is that physicians don’t necessarily have good ways of determining who should be sent on for further screening or assessment.”

Funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research, the Candrive project is a multi-disciplinary, longitudinal study in which 1,000 drivers (all aged 70 or older) from seven different sites (Victoria, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal ) will be monitored for a period of five years.

In addition to having a device installed in their vehicle (that monitors the length, location and frequency of their trips), those taking part in the study will be assessed once a year, via a series of tests conducted (in the case of Dr. Porter’s subjects) at the Neuromuscular Performance and Aging Laboratory in U of M’s Health, Leisure and Human Performance Research Institute.

There are myriad reasons why people’s driving abilities become compromised as they age – reduced cognitive function, impaired hearing or vision, and slower reaction times chief among them – along with the various medical conditions and side effects from medications that are part and parcel of getting older, says Porter.

In spite of the usual stereotypes surrounding older drivers, current research shows that middle-aged drivers (as opposed to senior citizens or teenagers) have the highest number of crashes; Dr. Porter notes that this can be explained by virtue of the fact that middle-aged motorists drive more often and for greater distances.

As older drivers are involved in a higher number of crashes per miles driven, and older drivers are more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash, it’s important to develop accurate ways of determining who might be at a higher risk of crashing, and enable physicians to be more confident in their decision-making process.

For more information about the Candrive study, contact Dr. Michelle Porter at (204) 474 – 8795 or portermm@cc.umanitoba.ca, or check www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/kinrec/research/lab_offices/neuromuscular_performance/candrive.html or www.candrive.ca.

Subjects for the Candrive study are still being recruited. If you are interested in participating, contact Linda Johnson, Candrive Research Assistant at (204) 474 – 7085 or johnson6@cc.umanitoba.ca.

For more information contact David Schmeichel, Communications Officer, Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, (204) 474-8629 or schmeich@cc.umanitoba.ca.