Abstract
Do elderly drivers have more trouble finding their way and staying spatially oriented than younger drivers do? If spatial orientation is more difficult for elderly drivers it could distract attention from vehicle control resulting in a higher accident rate for elderly drivers. Moreover, it could become less desirable for older drivers to explore unfamiliar surroundings and as such diminish their action radius. In order to test our hypothesis that elderly drivers have more problems with wayfinding and spatial orientation drivers in two age groups were asked to perform a wayfinding task in an unfamiliar environment. Errors in orientation were measured and compared between age-groups. Results on this driving and wayfinding task support the original hypothesis that acquiring and maintaining spatial orientation is significantly more problematic for elderly than younger drivers, hence could be a distracting factor for vehicle control.
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