The Safe Mobility for Life Coalition participated in Older Driver Safety Awareness Week, developed by the American Occupational therapy Association (AOTA), on December 4-8, 2023.
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.
Older adults will tell you that losing their driving license is like getting a death sentence. In her unstoppable journey to empower seniors, Dr. Sherrilene Classen, a professor and chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy in the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, is getting older adults comfortable with autonomous vehicle technology as well as conducting research to develop autonomous transit resources to promote their independence and safety.
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.
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.
Under the leadership of Dr. Sherrilene Classen and Dr. Sandra Winter, and in collaboration with the University of Florida T-2 center, the Department of Occupational Therapy has received a Florida Department of Transportation grant to develop a computer based-training (CBT) program for teens.
This course starts by providing a background of crash statistics for the U.S and introduce the concept of crash risk and crash risk reduction. Next, we provide an overview of terminology that is used in the driving literature, specifically related to driving outcomes. The audience is further exposed to a breadth of evidence-based methods and tools to help asses an individual’s fitness to drive. These assessments include the Comprehensive Driving Evaluation, which can be subdivided in clinical assessments, driving simulator assessments, and the on-road assessment. Dr. Classen is synopsizing the factual content in this course from almost two decades of exposure to empirical evidence and best practices –all packaged to enable clinicians to practice from an evidence-based perspective.
