Affiliations: [a] Department of Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
| [b]
Institute of Occupational Health of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
| [c]
Clinical Centre of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia
| [d] Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
| [e] Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Prof. Dr Ivan Mikov, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Department of Occupational Medicine and Clinical Centre of Vojvodina, Hajduk Veljkova 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia. Tel.: +381214843787; E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Professional drivers are part of the active working population, so there is a need for continuous improvement of operating efficiency and safety in driving. Reaction time is a very important driver’s trait. OBJECTIVE:The aim of this study was to examine the effects of age and driving experience on reaction times of professional drivers. METHODS:This study assesses part of driving efficiency of professional drivers by measuring simple reaction time and complex reaction time which are important to driving safety. Reaction times of 278 male professional drivers were tested using a hardware-software system for determining the speed of response to psychomotor simple and complex audio-visual stimuli. RESULTS:Our results showed a positive correlation between ageing and slowing of reaction times. This suggests that the natural ageing process clearly slows down reaction times. CONCLUSIONS:The response times of professional drivers are more dependent on age than on driving experience.
Keywords: Driving experience, simple reaction time, complex reaction time, age, workplace
