Effects of age, experience and training on hazard perception

Hazard perception (ability to identify dangerous road situations that require evasive action) declines with age and is linked to changes in visual attention and crash risk. Evidence shows that training can improve this ability in older adults. Yet, no study has considered the type of experience (manual versus automatic transmission) these older drivers have. The current study aims to fill this gap by examining the effects of age, experience and training on hazard perception ability. Twenty-four older and 23 middle aged adults (equal number of manual/automatic drivers per age group) were trained in a 20-minute single-session on hazard perception. Results indicate hazard performance declines with age and this is exacerbated with older automatic drivers. Further, the results show that generally training improves for most hazard variable. However, training does does assist older automatic drivers on identifying hazards.