Feelings and strategies of senior drivers: ways of coping with fear ?

Béatrice Cahour (1) , Jean-François Forzy (2) , Clémence Martin (3)

1 LTCI - Laboratoire Traitement et Communication de l'Information
2 Renault DTAA Ergonomie
3 Chercheur indépendant

This study explores the way senior drivers (compared to younger ones) adapt to the growing difficulties they have in being attentive and reactive when driving. We videotaped 12 subjects' natural drive, and conducted video-based interviews. The analysis indicate that seniors are more frightened than younger drivers and less aggressive, and that their face express les emotions. We also distinguish two profiles of senior drivers: the first one is hyper-vigilant, hesitating and very anxious, and the second one is deliberately delegating the control and the attention to the other drivers, is quieter and has a smoother driving. We conclude on the importance of the emotional comfort in the strategies of adaptation chosen by the drivers, and propose some advices for designing help systems for seniors.

Mots clés: Driving; seniors; emotions; video-based interviews; attention overload; coping strategies.; coping strategies

Domaines: Psychologie

Béatrice Cahour, Jean-François Forzy, Clémence Martin. Feelings and strategies of senior drivers: ways of coping with fear ?. ECCE 2010 (European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics), Aug 2010, Delft, Netherlands. pp.23-31. ⟨hal-00671723⟩