PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

SAFE-R: Construction and Validation of a New Economical Instrument for Assessing Driving Safety in Seniors With and Without Mild Cognitive Impairment Abstract. Aging is associated with both cognitive and noncognitive changes that may lead to reduced driving safety in a relevant proportion of the elderly population. Since practical on-road assessments are time-consuming and cost-intensive, there is an increasing need for valid screening tools to assess driving-related risk factors and to provide an accurate and time-efficient evaluation of the driving abilities of older drivers. In the past decade, our research group has been working on the development and validation of a multifactorial screening tool, entitled "Safety Advice for Elderly Drivers - Revised Version" (SAFE-R), which is presented in this paper. This tool allows the assessment of eleven evidence-based cognitive and noncognitive risk factors in older drivers with and without mild cognitive impairment. In an on-road study, we showed that the SAFE-R differentiates between safe and unsafe older drivers with a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 75%. The SAFE-R thus represents a valid and economical instrument for assessing the driving safety in seniors with and without mild cognitive impairment.