Abstract

Objectives: This study has been carried out with the aim of investigating motor, cognitive and executive functions of a group of accident-prone drivers. Method: Seventy professional accident-prone drivers with major faults and 30 drivers recognized as good and safe drivers, were examined using tests that assessed reaction time, recognition, memory, attention and concentration, as well as tests assessing decision making and response selection. Results: From among the applied tests, perseveration error scores in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (p<0.01) and reaction time for visual search (p<0.01) significantly differentiate between the accident prone and safe bus drivers. Scores on the visual search test showed highest correlation with IQ among the measures utilized (r=0.35, p<0.01). However, the scores for visual search test did not show significant correlation with other tests except for response errors in continuous performance test (r=0.24, p<0.001), and perseveration errors in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (r=0.22 p<0.05). Age showed a positive and significant correlation with IQ scores (r=0.39, p=<0.001), response errors in continuous performance test (r=0.38, p=0.001) and reaction time for visual search test (r=0.23, p=0.05). Conclusion: Neuropsychological tests can diffe-rentiate accident-prone from safe drivers. However, regarding the limitation in the validation of this tool, one should be careful in generalizing the results.