Analysis of the Relationship between Compensatory Driving by Elderly Drivers, Their Driving Awareness, and Their Daily Driving Behavior

Abstract

Preventing traffic accidents of elderly drivers is one of the important social issues. In this study, in order to gain insight about the relationship between elderly drivers' awareness of driving and their driving behavior, we focused on “compensatory driving”, which is driving behavior that is performed to compensate for the decline in physical and mental functions due to aging, and conducted a survey on driving awareness and collected driving behavior data using a drive recorder. Driving behavior was evaluated using a set of criteria, and the relationship with the results of the awareness survey questionnaire was statistically analyzed using nonparametric methods. As a result, some of the compensatory driving, although intended to ensure safe driving, was found to be associated with undesirable driving behaviors depending on the driving situation. These findings suggest that compensatory driving does not always contribute to safety, and that drivers should remain aware of its potential limitations.