The Impact of Long Term Usage and Short-Term Impairment from Cannabis on the Ability of Senior Drivers to make Safe and Beneficial Use of Advanced Vehicle Technologies
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Description: | Three emerging trends will have major impacts on
transportation safety and society at large. These are: (1) the aging of our
society, (2) the rapid deployment of advanced driver systems in the U.S. fleet,
and (3) the extent to which older drivers embrace cannabis for medical and/or
recreational use as its legalization expands across the U.S. This research
needs statement is concerned with the interactions among these and the
potential such has for positively or negatively impacting transportation
safety.
It is anticipated that the percentage of those 65 and
older in the U.S. will increase by almost 55% from levels seen in 2016 to those
projected in 2060 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017). This trend will increasingly and
critically stress all of society’s institutions, including transportation, in
the coming decades unless equally transformative trends, policies, and/or
technologies can be put into place.
One emerging technological trend which could help to
address transportation problems for senior drivers is in-vehicle advanced
vehicle technologies (AVT). These include not only fully autonomous vehicles,
for which broad implementation may be many years in the future, but also
technologies which are currently and rapidly emerging into the U.S. fleet
including such key safety-related features as: adaptive cruise control (ACC),
blind spot alerts (BSA), forward and rear automated emergency braking (AEB),
and lane keep assist (LKA). Each of these, if properly implemented and tested
with senior drivers in mind, may provide substantial help in keeping seniors
driving longer and safer in their personal vehicles, thus alleviating some of
the stress on the overall transportation infrastructure.
The
legalization of marijuana is a “wild card” in this milieu, as the effects on
driving while under the influence of cannabis impairment are just now being
studied from a variety of perspectives. In particular, one uncharted area for
research is the likelihood that older persons will have used cannabis long term
as well as in their current lives and choose to operate a motor vehicle.
Specifically, for those who do, it is unclear how long term cannabis use or
short term cannabis-induced impairment affects seniors’ ability to make effective
use of AVT.
Reference
U.S. Census Bureau (2017). 2017 National Population
Projections Tables. https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2017/demo/popproj/2017-summary-tables.html
(accessed on 1/10/2019)
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Objective: | The purpose of the
proposed study is to evaluate the effects of cannabis usage and impairment on
senior drivers’ ability to drive and make beneficial use of AVT.
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Benefits: | The expected benefits
extend to enhancing senior driver safety and mobility in the context of the key
emerging trends discussed in the Background section above. Armed with this
information, those stakeholders engaged with seniors can provide better advice
to them, their families, and their physicians. Further, OEM or Tier 1 system
designers can be better armed with information about how their systems are
being used, misused, or avoided altogether. This will increase sales and
profits for these entities, but more importantly this will lead to safer
vehicles, drivers, and roadways for all.
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Tasks: | Phase
I: Literature Review and National Survey
o Task
1:
Perform literature review – Scan
latest literature in the area of the impacts of short/long term cannabis usage
on senior driver behavior/performance/safety and specifically in the context of
making beneficial use of the safety benefits afforded by AVT.
o Task
2:
Conduct national survey
* - Task 2a:*
Determine eligibility criteria (e.g., short/long term cannabis usage, driving
while under the influence, ownership of a vehicle with AVT, age range, use of
others as a source of comparison data (e.g., middle aged drivers))
Task 2b:
Determine best methods to find participants, consent them, deliver survey, and
compensate them; this includes procuring sample from vendors, as appropriate
Task 2c:
Create survey content; create items to fully address the research objectives
o Task
3: *Analyze results
o Task
4:
Generate final report and/or journal
article(s)
o Task
5:
Present results to stakeholders in other
formats/venues
Phase
II: On-Road Data Collection
o Task
1: Use
instrumented vehicle with AVT (which is initially disabled) that is ‘loaned’ to
each participant for one month, to allow acclimation in order to obtain
baseline measures of following distance, braking behavior, ‘dilemma zone’
choices, and responses to unexpected hazards
o Task
2:
Characterize differences/variability in sample with respect to all behaviors
o Task
3:
After obtaining baseline measures naturalistically, introduce AVT with both
naturalistic driving and naturalistic driving that translates seamlessly to a
controlled environment where responses to specific experimentally induced
perturbations could be measured in a way that could not be done safely or
ethically in a naturalistic study.
o Task
4:
Examine differences/variability in sample with respect to all behaviors, with
hypothesis that behaviors with negative safety implications will be
ameliorated.
*
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Sample: Drivers aged 60-75,
75+, and possibly a middle-aged control group; both ‘medical’ and ‘recreational’
users may participate – all must agree to a toxicology analysis, and to provide
self-report of what, when, and how much cannabis product has been consumed and
over what period of time in the past.
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Implementation: | The proposed study is envisioned in two phases:
Phase I, as specified above, should have a high
probability of success with few barriers. This initial step could lead to
follow-on studies (Phase 2) where actual behavioral and performance data are
collected on test track(s) and/or in the real-world using naturalistic methods
also has a high probability of success, as these techniques have been
successfully applied for many years.
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Relevance: | The potential users of this research are all stakeholders concerned with senior mobility and safety in today’s world of emerging technology on the one hand and the growing trend of permissiveness regarding cannabis usage across the U.S. These include Federal and state DoTs, DMVs, urban planning commissions, physicians, OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, and all seniors and their family members.
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Sponsoring Committee: | ANB60, Safe Mobility of Older Persons |
Research Period: | Longer than 36 months |
Research Priority: | High |
RNS Developer: | Jon Antin, Ph.D., CHFP, VTTI; Loren Staplin, Ph.D., TransAnalytics |
Date Posted: | 03/01/2019 |
Date Modified: | 05/21/2019 |
Index Terms: | Marijuana, Aged drivers, Impaired drivers, Driver support systems, Drug use, Drugged drivers, |
Cosponsoring Committees: | |
Subjects |
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Highways
Safety and Human Factors
Society
Vehicles and Equipment
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