Buckle up!: Driving simulation as a future tool for research in traffic medicine

Abstract

Traffic medicine is a specialty field of legal medicine. It plays an important preventative role to improve overall traffic safety by assessing the long- and short-term fitness-to-drive on the medical level. For this assessment, it is necessary to integrate information across a broad range of medical disciplines. Despite this inherently integrative potential, traffic medicine has not been able to emancipate itself as fully recognized special discipline. How can traffic medicine meet the increased demand for evidence based assessments and overall societal challenges? By way of a historical summary of the field and its changing needs, we motivate the advantages and the potential of driving simulation for both the assessment for the fitness-to-drive itself and dedicated clinical studies in traffic medicine. Apart from literature sources, historical aspects are partly derived from existing expertise. The assessment of driving simulation for traffic medicine is the result of the review of selected literature. Both the mandate and the claim of traffic medicine have changed over the years. A selected literature review suggests that customized driving simulators should be part of a modernized traffic medicine (research), in order to be able to address incoming challenges in an adequate fashion. So far, no such instrumentation exists in Switzerland. Realistic and low threshold driving simulators, tailored as tool for both clinical research and amended individual tests in traffic medicine research promise not only evidence-based scientific outcomes and, thus, a better understanding for traffic medicine, but also added-value to easier communicate with all stakeholders, thus making traffic safer for everybody.