How Aging Affects the Relationship Between the Driver and the Road Environment

This paper describes the effects of aging upon a driver's capability to perceive and react to conventional road warning and guidance systems, as well as other factors intended to assist traffic movement and safety. It first examines the effects of aging on driver visual functions, then upon cognition or the speed at which older drivers process the visual information derived from signs and warning systems. Its purpose is to create a sensitivity within the highway community for the difficulties that drivers may experience with such systems after they pass middle age.