Senior Lawyers Division
| . . . for the Experienced Lawyer | ABA SENIOR LAWYERS DIVISION | MARCH 2007 |
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SENIOR DRIVING ISSUES
There is now a web-based test that offers a standardized method to rapidly detect brain impairment and dementia. A study published in the February 2007 edition of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society reports that the Automatic Clock Drawing Test ™, a commercially available product, Times2Tell ™, through SpecialtyAutomated Systems Corporation (http://www.specialtyautomated.com/), is the first of its kind to fully automate one of the most widely used cognitive assessment tests, the clock drawing test. This new, sensitive, multimedia, and interactive test also offers a uniform, objective, and user-friendly method to screen and monitor drivers in departments of driver's licenses, doctors' offices, and clinical settings. It allows agencies to administer thousands or millions of clock drawing tests on computers. As a computerized device, it effectively saves significant time, paper, labor, and costs associated with administering, scoring, and interpreting results of the traditional paper-based clock drawing tests. The Automatic Clock Drawing Test ™ offers great potential for fitness-to-drive evaluations to reduce crashes and high-profiled tragedies involving dementia drivers. Undetected cognitive impairment (CI) and dementia are among the greatest challenges to face the health care system today. This study reported cutoff scores, which is a big breakthrough. More than half the subjects, aged 64 to 99 years, were referred for medical evaluation on the basis of their Automatic Clock Drawing Test ™ scores. The researchers also found significant consistency between the test results and crash history of drivers. Each driver who reported a crash failed at 10% or more. Scores and completion time for these automated tests were directly linked with age. This study also shows that the Automatic Clock Drawing Test ™ provides an equal playing field for individuals with special needs, especially those with inabilities to hold writing instruments. Until now, such subjects and drivers faced discrimination, hardship, or license revocation on the basis of a shaking disorder or other disability. Furthermore, uniformity of the Automatic Clock Drawing Test ™ allows lawyers and other legal professionals to readily review or monitor a subject's cognitive performance. It may also serve as a tool in liability determinations and assessments, especially when the majority of cognitive tests are subjective and, usually, manual. Importantly, the Automatic Clock Drawing Test ™ ensures that subjects and drivers of all ages, cultures, and educational backgrounds will be screened and treated fairly and equally. The Automatic Clock Drawing Tests ™ are now available online with
instant tests, scores, results, and statistics that layman and
professionals can easily use, review, and study on the For more information, contact: Source: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, February 2007
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