While by now most of us have heard the joke about the young bull and the old bull standing on the top of a hill looking down at a herd of cows grazing beyond a fence; those who have trained with us know that a slow walk down the hill and around the fence isn’t going to meet the performance standards required to receive a certificate from us. More importantly, they recognize that the laws of physics are non-discriminatory when it comes to behind-the-wheel emergencies. The forces which the driver must place on the vehicle and exert control over are dictated not by the drivers’ age but by the environment and situation the driver finds themselves in. And given the common perception that an older driver is a less capable driver, an adversary very well may assume the vehicle driven by an older protection practitioner is a more attractive target. So, for the more mature (read as “more experienced”) security practitioner, behind-the-wheel performance is not just a matter of pride, it is an absolute necessity.
As we have noted in the past, the overwhelmingly majority of our students – on average, 98.4% in any given year – are gainfully employed in the protection profession. Many, though certainly not all, are in their second career having retired from law enforcement work or military service. By virtue of these facts, and to put it “delicately”, our students tend to be more mature than those one might expect to find in a security driving or protection training course…at least in age. And, they tend to defy the stereotype of the older driver by a wide margin, and in many instances perform as well, if not better, than their younger counterparts.
Now that doesn’t mean these folks are immune to the effects – and deficits – of aging. As those who have been through our training can attest, the level of performance required to successfully complete one of our courses (and, more importantly, survive a behind-the-wheel emergency) doesn’t come easy, nor does it get any easier with age. In fact, the experience we have garnered delivering 90 to 100 training courses a year, to between 450 and 700 students each year over each of the last 11 years, coupled with quite literally thousands of hours of research and analysis of driver performance data we have collected in that same timeframe (not to mention the nearly four decades of the same which Tony Scotti brings to the table), has proven that fact. What our students have come to know is that overcoming the effects of aging goes well beyond the conventional wisdom of increasing following distance, reducing the length of trips or stints behind the wheel, and restricting driving to daylight hours; none of which are viable options for them. What we have come to know as we have delivered driver training to students around the world is that, more than anything else, sustaining high levels of driver performance in the face of age-related deficits requires restructuring the very foundation of driving – the driver, and developing training approaches that focus on just that.
With all of that in mind, our Protective/Evasive Driving Course that concluded yesterday – our 10th training delivery in just three weeks – afforded an opportunity to more closely examine what it takes to overcome the effects that age has on driver performance in behind-the-wheel emergencies, as opposed to everyday driving. As is typical with our open enrollment courses, this particular class was filled to capacity (less one student who had to reschedule due to a change in his Principal’s plans).
The 19 students in attendance represented:
- 6 multinational corporations (from the technology, pharmaceutical, finance and insurance sectors)
- 2 world renown security services firms
- a professional sports league
- the world’s leading luxury resort hotel operator
- a Federal law enforcement agency
These experienced secure transportation and protection practitioners ranged in age from 24 to 63 years of age, almost evenly split between the upper and lower age ranges, as follows:
- 9 participants fell into the 24 to 36 year old range
- 10 participants ranged from 47 to 63 year old.
While this is a small sample group, it should be noted the findings with this particular group directly correlate to data we’ve collected over the course of an entire year; a data set that captures the performance of just shy of 500 students. With this most recent group, we focused on identifying which components of our current training regimen where having the most positive impact on driver performance among those in the upper age range. Based on the performance data collected from this group (and compared to the larger data set), along with feedback provided by the student throughout their training, it appears that two components of our approach to training afford the most significant performance improvements among our more mature students. Fortunately, from a practical standpoint both can be easily carried over from the training environment into the environments and conditions our students typically operate in on a day-to-day basis.
The first performance factor was something we wouldn’t have been able to hone in on without the use of our Dynavision D2 Visuomotor Training system. This computer controlled device allows us to measure the individual students’ visual and physical reaction times, cognitive recognition (processing and decision making) times, and visual acuity across the students’ entire field of vision. Contrary to popular opinion and conventional wisdom regarding drivers in the upper age range, through the use of the Dynavision D2 we have found that their reaction time is typically not that much slower than their younger counterparts, certainly not nearly as slow as conventional wisdom would lead one to expect. However, peripheral acuity – which impacts the drivers’ ability to recognize visual cues in the outer ranges of their field vision – seems to decrease more noticeably and predictably with age.
Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the older drivers’ field of vision is narrower. In fact, from the research we’ve done and anecdotal evidence we’ve collected that doesn’t appear to be the case. What it does indicate is that decreased definition or sharpness in the “outer bands” of their vision may significantly impact an older drivers’ ability to recognize a visual cue or indicator of a potential problem. From what we have learned, this may be leading to the misconception that small increases in a drivers age results in significant decreases in their reaction time. That’s not to say their isn’t a point in time when that occurs, just that the curve from peak reaction time to significantly diminished reaction time may be more gradual then one might expect. This also has led us to believe that simply increasing following distance as one gets older may not be the most effective approach to decreasing certain risks, as the driver is not necessarily dealing with purely a reaction time issue, but rather a visual perception issue (albeit one that may be compounded by decreases in reaction time). In as much as the everyday operating environments and conditions a Security Driver is exposed to simply may not allow for further increases in following distance above and beyond what’s feasible from a safety or security standpoint, this is a crucial piece of information.
What our research using both the Dynavision D2 system, coupled with data collected from a corresponding series of evasive driving exercises in which reaction time is dictated by visual indicators, has determined is that, as with many other aspects of driving and driver performance, creating small changes in the older drivers field of vision makes a huge difference in their ability to identify visual indicators and warning signs of potential problems. By small changes we’re talking about rotating the head – NOT shifting the eyes – approximately 5 to 10 degrees in both directions, and doing so on a continuous basis. This small movement serves to place things that would normally appear in the periphery of the driver’s field of vision in the sharpest or higher definition bands of vision, particularly those which are further away. Applying this small change has proven effective at providing older drivers, even those in their mid- to late sixties, the visual acuity and useful field of vision required to identify visual indicators and determine appropriate responses in just .5 seconds, the threshold for cognitive recognition defined by Dr. Marc Green, one of the world’s foremost experts on driver reaction time when placed under stress.
The second component which routinely results in noticeable performance increases among our older students is adjusting the drivers seating and hand position to allow them to better manipulate the vehicles controls through their full operating range. While this is one of the most effective means of increasing any drivers performance in behind-the-wheel emergencies, it is particularly effective with older drivers where the lingering effects of injuries tends to limit range of motion, and the effects of aging may begin negatively impacting physicality. In terms of seating and hand position the focus tends to be on steering, not that this is a bad thing or incorrect. But hand position on the wheel is just part of the equation. While hand position impacts how far one can rotate the wheel, so does the distance of the drivers shoulders from the wheel and the angle of drivers arms. Because of height, weight, body type and, potentially, previous injuries which impact range of motion, the optimum seating and hand position varies from one driver to the next. In terms of steering, the most important consideration is to find a position that will allow the driver to rotate the wheel as close to 180+ degrees as possible without having to reposition their hands.
But, as previously mentioned, steering engagement is only one consideration of seating position. Another consideration is pedal engagement, particularly brake pedal engagement, which is impacted by how far back the seat is adjusted relative to the pedals. A number of modern luxury vehicles have adjustable pedals, which is a good thing as it allows the driver to find the optimum seating position in terms of steering input and then adjust the pedal to their optimum position independently. Regardless of how the vehicle is equipped, in order to ensure the driver can fully engage the brake pedal, they should be seated in position that allows them to reach the floor board under the pedal without hyper extending their knee or ankle. As with increasing the drivers’ useful field of vision, small changes in seating and hand position allow for significant increases in driver performance, it just takes time, effort, and focus to find what will work best for the individual driver.
So for the older practitioner, sustaining appropriately high levels of driving performance goes beyond experience and positive attitude – though they are certainly contributing factors. For the mature practitioner, maintaining the ability to recognize and respond appropriately to behind-the-wheel emergencies means looking beyond conventional wisdom, no longer relying on legacy training techniques and approaches, and refusing to accept second (or even third) hand information. If the goal is to maintain peak proficiency well into the twilight of their career, today’s practitioner will be best served by training which is continually evolving, and that incorporates cutting edge technology along with extensive research on the human factors that impact driver performance to identify areas for improvement and develop training strategies that will meet the practitioners changing needs.
Lawana Gibson says
Interesting
Dutch says
This article is another reason you guys are one of the elite training organizations in the EP industry – Well thought out and written article on a topic of interest, with experimentally obtained data to back it up! Thank you VDI.
Adam says
That is all true, however that “relationship” between driver and car is to remedy
potential problems ( if they are even recognized) and it’s just a part of it. Physical
and mental health are the other part. Water management ( proper hydration) ,exercising , diet that supports healthy body and good sleep are of no lesser importance.