Our world has been greatly affected by the presence of the automobile; from the way we design our metropolitan and national infrastructures, to the way we relax and vacation, to the way we run our errands and get to work.
The automobile has made our lives easier in many ways and has given millions of people around the world freedom of movement that would have seemed impossible only a few hundred years ago.
As the automobile became more and more intertwined into our societies, so to have the inherent dangers of operating these machines. Signs, signals, and safety features were added to the roads, and seat belts, air bags, and—more recently—Advanced Driver Assistance Systems such as automatic breaking and lane departure warnings were added to vehicles to help prevent these risks. But even with the addition of these safety systems, there is still an inherent risk any time a driver gets behind the wheel.
Researchers used data gathered through the CogniFit platform to investigate the cognitive and psychomotor risk factors associated with automobile accidents and has developed a unique estimation index that can help predict the risk of being involved in an automobile accident.
CogniFit as an Investigative Tool for Predicting Vehicle Accident Risk
CogniFit’s tasks for measuring estimation capacity (included in the driving test) has been used by the Center for Cognitive Science of the Nebrija University of Madrid in collaboration with The Arctic University of Norway to investigate cognitive and psychomotor risk factors associated with traffic accidents, as well as to develop a unique estimation index that can help predict the risk of suffering a traffic accident.
The main objective of this research was to show if older drivers have more accidents and if these tend to be more serious. To do this, they have carried out a comparative study where they have looked to see if there really is a relationship between the score obtained in the estimation tasks of the CogniFit driving test and the number of total accidents.
Subsequently, it has been reviewed whether, in addition, the CogniFit scores provide an additional benefit for the prediction of any type of car accident.
How was the CogniFit Estimation score developed?
The researchers analyzed data collected through the CogniFit platform on the cognitive skills related to estimation ability of 20,231 participants (10,627 female, 9,606 males) across 123 countries. The data, measuring participants’ ability to estimate the duration, speed, and distance of stimuli, as well as their understanding of how the speed and distance of an object affected its movement, were compiled into a composite index measuring each participant’s estimation abilities.
Subsequently, the mean percentages of precision for both men and women on the CogniFit tasks were compared to raw data from male and female drivers involved in 1) fatal crashes, 2) injury crashes, and 3) crashes with material damage.
Finally, an analysis was carried out where the data of the different types of accidents were related by type and sex of the total, and the age of the drivers, their gender, and their CogniFit score as predictors.
The results showed a predictive power of age, and gender, showing that older drivers were involved in fewer fatal accidents than young people and that women had fewer fatal accidents than men. The CogniFit score also showed a direct relationship between a person’s estimation skills and the number of fatal accidents.
How can the CogniFit Estimation score help?
Based on the findings of the analysis of data and the robust relationship between CogniFit’s Estimation score and various types of traffic accidents, we can see that the CogniFit Estimation score can predict the group probability of being involved in a fatal car accident (accounting for 98.3% of the variance), of being involved in an accident with injuries (explaining 96.2% of the variance), and of being involved in accidents with material damage (explaining 95.8% of the variance).
Understanding how age, gender, and the cognitive skills related website to estimation affect the risk index of drivers serves not only to know which drivers are most at risk of suffering fatal vehicle accidents, but can also serve as the basis for future research into whether training these core cognitive skills can reduce the risk of accidents in the future.
How can CogniFit help you understand your driving risk?
CogniFit offers a unique cognitive assessment for drivers, the Online Cognitive Assessment Battery for Driving (DAB), which uses digital neuropsychological tasks to assess a user’s cognitive capacity and attitude to drive efficiently and safely.
The results provided by this neuropsychological assessment include relevant information that can help predict the quality of vehicle handling and identify the risk index or accident tendency of a driver.
This digital driving test is performed online and lasts approximately 30-40 minutes. At the end of the evaluation, users receive a complete report of results with useful and comprehensible information about driving ability, performance, and cognitive skills.
Whether you or a loved one have been driving for decades or are preparing to take the driver’s license exam for the first time, the Driving Cognitive Assessment from CogniFit can help you feel confident you understand your driving risk.