Age Differences in Judgements of Vehicle Velocity and Distance

The purpose of this study was to determine if older adults have more difficulty than younger adults in judging either the distance or speed of approaching vehicles. Eighteen elderly and 27 younger adults made judgements of the speed and distance of a video-taped automobile. Velocity judgements were made of 5 s segments of the car moving at 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 mph. Distance judgements were based on 5 static sequences of the same test vehicle at 190, 235, 300, 360, and 480 ft. It was found that older women gave significantly higher estimates of car velocity than did younger ones. Older males also gave disproportionately high estimates of the car's distance. To the extent that these simulation data can be generalized to real-life settings, they suggest that older drivers and pedestrians (particularly older males) would view it as relatively safer than younger drivers to enter or cross the lane of an approaching car. Future research might be directed to a determination of age differences in distance perception under three-dimensional viewing conditions.