Research on the Relation between Driving Operations and Cognitive Function of Elderly Drivers

抄録

Recently, driving accidents caused by elderly drivers have become a major social problem in Japan. One of the factors causing such accidents is a decline in cognitive function. In this study, this research aimed to verify the relation between driving performance and cognitive function. The originality of this study is to focus on parking operation, which has been rarely studied in previous studies. In this study, a method to measure the number of turnarounds during parking operations was developed based on changes in vectors representing driving directions. The relationship between driving operations and cognitive function was examined through regression analysis where the characteristics of driving operations during intersection and parking were used as explanatory variables and the results of the cognitive function test as the dependent variable. In conclusion, the possibility of inferring the status of cognitive function through observation of driving operations was demonstrated.