Mental flexibility impairment in drivers with early Alzheimer’s disease: A simulator-based study

After memory impairment, one of the most common troubles of early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the impairment of executive functioning. However, it can have major consequences on daily life, notably on the driving activity. The present study focused on one important executive function involved in driving: mental flexibility; and considered how this impairment can affect driving. Ten patients with early AD were matched with 29 healthy older drivers. All participants were given an evaluation of mental flexibility through neuropsychological tests and an experimental test developed on a static driving simulator. The experiment was divided in two conditions; one without mental flexibility and another condition with a mental flexibility demand. AD patients showed impairments in the neuropsychological tests evaluating mental flexibility. These deficits are linked to the deficits they showed in the driving simulator flexibility tests. This study contributes to the understanding of mental flexibility mechanisms and on their role in driving activity. It also confirms that the driving simulator is a suitable tool to explore cognitive disorders and driving ability

Entre demande sociétale, volonté politique, contraintes techniques et culture locale, la mise en accessibilité des réseaux de transports collectifs de Lyon et de Stuttgart - Rapport de synthèse

Ce projet de recherche a vocation de mettre en lumière les mécanismes sociaux, administratifs ou techniques qui influencent de manière positive ou négative la politique de mise en accessibilité des réseaux de transports collectifs de Lyon et de Stuttgart. Le niveau d'accessibilité de ces deux réseaux a d'abord été présenté selon les types de réseaux et les modes de transport. Les mesures étudiées concernent tant les personnes à mobilité réduite que celles plus spécifiques aux personnes handicapées. Le deuxième temps du rapport est consacré aux politiques nationales d'accessibilité : il s'agit de déterminer de quelle manière les politiques observées à Lyon et à Stuttgart correspondent à la mise en œuvre d'une politique plus nationale. Une attention plus particulière est portée sur les objectifs, le public-cible, les instruments privilégiés et le contrôle de cette politique publique. Un examen minutieux des cas lyonnais et stuttgartois montre que l'accessibilité au transport des personnes handicapées constitue un problème public soumis à des contraintes et des enjeux multiples. Il est ainsi indéniable que la structuration de la demande sociétale et ses modes d'expression jouent un rôle crucial dans l'élaboration de la politique locale. Mais celle-ci est également contingente aux choix techniques et politiques passés. L'analyse des réseaux lyonnais et stuttgartois révèle en outre que la légitimité de l'instrument juridique dépend fortement de la crédibilité technique de ses prescriptions. Le service de transport spécialisé est également une composante de la politique locale d'accessibilité : son niveau de service, sa tarification et les conditions d'éligibilité sont autant de leviers dans les mains de l'autorité organisatrice des transports pour orienter le comportement des personnes handicapées. Enfin les politiques locales d'accessibilité sont aussi influencées par divers facteurs, culturels et autres, comme cela a pu être constaté concernant le type de palette dans les bus et les bandes podotactiles.Accessibilité; personnes handicapées; personnes à mobilité réduite; transports collectifs; Lyon; Stuttgart

Demographic Change and Transport

Ce rapport est la revue de littérature sur "changements démographiques et transport" du projet CONSOL (CONcerns and SOLutions – Road Safety in the Ageing Societies) (période de contrat 2011-2013). Il propose un état de l'art qui combine les connaissances du domaine ainsi que les avancées les plus récentes, issues des champs de recherche concernés dans plusieurs disciplines. Il met en relief le caractère très hétérogène de la population européenne vieillissante

Réflexions sur l'interface conducteurs âgés/systèmes d'aide au guidage routier

Marin-Lamellet Claude. Réflexions sur l'interface conducteurs âgés/systèmes d'aide au guidage routier. In: Bulletin de psychologie, tome 48 n°418, 1994. Psychologie du travail – Ergonomie dans les transports. pp. 99-104

Survey on people with travel difficulties in France

International audienceThe regular population's ageing, leaded to a decline in mortality and birthrate may affect the mobility of the whole population. Moreover, in France since few years there is a will to fully integrate persons with disabilities into society, in particular with the passing of the law of February 2005. This law reminds the need for accessibility to the whole chain of travel at all. In this context, the knowledge of people with reduced mobility seems nowadays essential. The objective of this research is to analyze the mobility of disabled people. This research is based on the French National Survey on Transport (FNTS) conducted in France in 2007-2008 by the Ministry of Transport and the National Institute of Statistics with the scientific support of INRETS. It is the data source providing the most transverse and consistent overview of mobility, whatever the modes and the transport situations of people living in France. This study should allow us to provide a detailed knowledge of the mobility of people involved

Survey on people with travel difficulties in France

International audienceThe regular population's ageing, leaded to a decline in mortality and birthrate may affect the mobility of the whole population. Moreover, in France since few years there is a will to fully integrate persons with disabilities into society, in particular with the passing of the law of February 2005. This law reminds the need for accessibility to the whole chain of travel at all. In this context, the knowledge of people with reduced mobility seems nowadays essential. The objective of this research is to analyze the mobility of disabled people. This research is based on the French National Survey on Transport (FNTS) conducted in France in 2007-2008 by the Ministry of Transport and the National Institute of Statistics with the scientific support of INRETS. It is the data source providing the most transverse and consistent overview of mobility, whatever the modes and the transport situations of people living in France. This study should allow us to provide a detailed knowledge of the mobility of people involved

Managing the safe mobility of older road users: How to cope with their diversity?

Against the background of an ageing population, the management of older people's safe mobility is becoming an increasingly important issue. Mobility is vital for older people's quality of life and several examples of good practice that support older people's safe mobility already exist. However, the older population is increasingly diverse and its different segments have different mobility needs and expectations. This paper has reviewed practices to manage older people's safe mobility and identied 29 examples of good practice which fall into six categories. The different kinds of practices were assessed with regard to their suitability for different segments of the older population as identied in previous studies. In addition, we considered whether the needs of certain segments remain unmet. Our study found that most practices target individuals with mobility restrictions and mainly attract groups who are already users and improve their (safe) use of the preferred transport mode. However, they do not seem to succeed in increasing mobility options, e.g. by encouraging car-reliant users to cycle or use public transport or by helping older women to continue to drive. We advise that existing practices should more directly target those segments that would benet from them the most and be adapted more specically to these segments' needs and preferences. We have identied a complete failure to provide awareness programs to inform older users about the potential benets of driver assistance systems, a lack of programmes to increase perceived security, as well as a comprehensive scheme for older drivers who have to stop driving

Entre demande sociétale, volonté politique, contraintes techniques et culture locale, la mise en accessibilité des réseaux de transports collectifs de Lyon et de Stuttgart - Rapport de synthèse

This research project aims at highlighting the social, administrative and technical mechanisms which impact, in a positive or negative manner, on the accessibility transport policy of Lyon and Stuttgart. The level of accessibility of both transport networks is first presented. Each type of transport is set out. The studied measures deal with both people with reduced mobility and people with disabilities. The second section of this report is about the national accessibility policies. We want to scrutinize if policies of local government's Lyon and Stuttgart implement national policies or not. Policy objectives, recipients, instruments and policy monitoring receive particular attention. A close examination shows of Lyon and Stuttgart studies that transport accessibility policy is a public problem which is under pressure of various constraints and stakes. There no doubt that the structure of the Civil Society and the way how it expresses its claims play a decisive role in the local policy elaboration process. However, this local policy is also impacted by past technical and political choices. Moreover this research study discloses that the legitimacy of the legal instrument is strongly dependant on the technical credibility of its orders. The specialized transport service is another component of the local policy: its performance, its tariffs and its eligibility conditions are levers for transport authorities to orient the behaviour of people with disabilities. Lastly local accessibility policies are under the influence of various factors, cultural and others. A study of chosen technology for bus ramp and tactile walking surface proves this assertion.Ce projet de recherche a vocation de mettre en lumière les mécanismes sociaux, administratifs ou techniques qui influencent de manière positive ou négative la politique de mise en accessibilité des réseaux de transports collectifs de Lyon et de Stuttgart. Le niveau d'accessibilité de ces deux réseaux a d'abord été présenté selon les types de réseaux et les modes de transport. Les mesures étudiées concernent tant les personnes à mobilité réduite que celles plus spécifiques aux personnes handicapées. Le deuxième temps du rapport est consacré aux politiques nationales d'accessibilité : il s'agit de déterminer de quelle manière les politiques observées à Lyon et à Stuttgart correspondent à la mise en œuvre d'une politique plus nationale. Une attention plus particulière est portée sur les objectifs, le public-cible, les instruments privilégiés et le contrôle de cette politique publique. Un examen minutieux des cas lyonnais et stuttgartois montre que l'accessibilité au transport des personnes handicapées constitue un problème public soumis à des contraintes et des enjeux multiples. Il est ainsi indéniable que la structuration de la demande sociétale et ses modes d'expression jouent un rôle crucial dans l'élaboration de la politique locale. Mais celle-ci est également contingente aux choix techniques et politiques passés. L'analyse des réseaux lyonnais et stuttgartois révèle en outre que la légitimité de l'instrument juridique dépend fortement de la crédibilité technique de ses prescriptions. Le service de transport spécialisé est également une composante de la politique locale d'accessibilité : son niveau de service, sa tarification et les conditions d'éligibilité sont autant de leviers dans les mains de l'autorité organisatrice des transports pour orienter le comportement des personnes handicapées. Enfin les politiques locales d'accessibilité sont aussi influencées par divers facteurs, culturels et autres, comme cela a pu être constaté concernant le type de palette dans les bus et les bandes podotactiles

Difficulties experienced by older drivers during their regular driving and their expectations towards Advanced Driving Aid Systems and vehicle automation

The aim of this study was to analyse the difficulties experienced by older drivers during their regular driving, and to identify their needs and their expectations regarding Advanced Driving Aid Systems (ADAS) and vehicle automation. More than 100 items were investigated by using a Focus Group method based on a Collective Questionnaire (named FoG-CoQS). Thirty elderly drivers, 15 females and 15 males aged from 70 to 81 years (mean age of 73.3; S.D. = 3.18) were recruited among a representative sample of 76 older drivers living in the Rhone area and having previously participated to an on-road experiment, in order to collect from this Focus Group method further information about the driving diffi- culties they experienced in their everyday life and their expectations towards driving aids. Seven main topics were more particularly investigated, recovering at last all the main dimensions of the driving task (from navigation to speed control, through intersection crossing).Regarding driving difficulties, one of the most interesting result collected is the high con- trast between the literature review, identifying Left Turn (LT) manoeuvres at crossroads as a risky driving situation for elderly drivers, and the relatively low values of perceived dif- ficulties (i.e. compared to other driving sub-tasks) collected during this Focus Group among our sample of older drivers. Regarding the driving aid functions investigated, 10 of them obtained high scores of 'perceived utility' (i.e. overpassing 60% on scales ranging from 0% [no utility] to 100% [high utility]), and they concerned assistances liable to support all the main components of the driving task investigated in this study.Additional results are related to the differences between the elderly female and male dri- vers. Several driving situations were assessed as significantly more difficult to perform by the older female than by the older male drivers, like intersection crossing, entering express- ways, or implementing a lane change manoeuver. By contrast, this gender effect is more lim- ited regarding driving aids: synthetically, men and women have a positive attitude towards driving aid systems and their expectations for future ADAS are quite similar (for instance, 'informative systems' are preferred than driving aids based on 'vehicle automation').Finally, from two transversal items (i.e. 'difficulties' to perform a driving sub-task and 'perceived utility' of ADAS), it was possible to rank older drivers' difficulties experienced during their everyday life (from lowest difficulties to 'navigate on a familiar itinerary' to highest when 'interacting with bicyclists') and their expectations towards driving aids (from lowest utility score given to 'Automatic Lane Change systems' to highest utility value provided to 'Speed Informer systems'). At last, older drivers' acceptance and expectations towards highly automated cars was also investigated: full automation was assessed as an nteresting solution to ensure the self-mobility of elderly peoples in their circle, but also for themselves in the future, in case of impairments of their own cognitive or physical capacities