Driving

Professor Beth Gibson received a Lifetime Honorary Membership Award from the Association of Driver Rehabilitation Specialists (ADED). The award recognizes longtime members who have served for 10 or more years in leadership positions. She was a previous recipient of the Volunteer Award, a competitive award which recognizes those who have contributed an exemplary and sustained level of dedication, service, leadership, and impact on the organization.

To drive or not to drive? That is the question confronting many people as they age, especially those who live in southern states like Florida, where a car-centric culture makes it more difficult to get around when one can’t, won’t, or is unable to continue driving.

The deployment of autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies may hold important health and safety benefits for drivers across the driving lifespan. However, such benefits can materialize only if transportation users are willing to embrace the emerging technologies. Earlier studies document a wide variance in acceptance practices, based solely on surveys of drivers. This research used a combined approach of surveys and lived experiences of drivers engaging with AV technologies to examine technology acceptance and adoption of AV technologies. The webinar summarizes findings from the analysis of younger and middle-aged drivers’ perceptions of AVs before and after a) “driving” an interactive high-fidelity RTI driving simulator, in Level 4 autonomous mode, and b) riding in an autonomous shuttle (AS). Moreover, it discusses predictive models of facilitators and barriers for AV acceptance built from data collected from younger and middle-aged drivers (N=106) and older drivers (N=104). The findings reveal important foundational information about driver acceptance, their intention to use AVs, barriers to AV technology, and well-being related to AV technology across the driving lifespan.

The Association for Driver Rehabilitation Specialists (ADED) Board has appointed Dr. Sherrilene Classen as Chair of the ADED Research Committee, effective April 1, 2022 – December 31, 2024.

Dr. Prerna Poojary, an I-MAP co-investigator, provided a talk at the Flaglerbroadcasting radio show to discuss the VA funded driving workshop.

This award is presented annually to members who have made outstanding scholarly achievements in the area of driver evaluation, education, research, and/or engineering.

Book chapter found in Ways of Living: Intervention Strategies to Enable Participation, Fifth Edition.

Book chapter found in Occupational Therapy for Physical Dysfunction, Eighth Edition.

Dr. Classen’s team has been researching how older drivers experience autonomous vehicle technology. As a result of this research, two continuing education lectures were developed for inclusion in the Driving Rehabilitation Therapy Certificate program offered by the UF Department of Occupational Therapy.

To enable family members or friends, in the USA and Canada, to detect at-risk older drivers, Dr. Classen and colleagues, developed and tested the Fitness-to-Drive Screening Measure (FTDS), a user friendly on-line tool http://fitnesstodrive.phhp.ufl.edu/. Family members, caregivers, or friends who had driven with the driver in the last three months, may rate the drivers’ difficulties by completing 54 screening questions. After completing the questions a keyform, or rating profile, of each driver is produced which includes a classification of the driver into one of three categories: at-risk driver, routine driver, or accomplished driver. Based on the specific driver category, recommendations-- the logical next steps for family members, friends or clinicians-- are suggested for each driver. These recommendations entail guidelines for continued fitness to drive, seeking interventions, or starting conversations about stopping driving. The FTDS has been translated into Japanese and Korean with demonstrated psychometric support for the Korean version. A shorter version has been developed (32 items) with excellent predictive validity of fitness to drive outcomes. This course will discuss each of these core activities and apply content information to an actual case study.