The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is offering this grant to provide resources and support for caregivers of drivers with dementia.

The key messages that NHTSA hopes to convey are:
The problem will not go away.
Here are the tools you need.
These are the actions you should take.

The purpose of this cooperative agreement is to provide tools, support, and guidance to caregivers of drivers with dementia so that they will know what actions they should take to prevent unsafe driving by their loved-ones, and to feel confident in knowing they did the right thing in taking those actions.
In order to help caregivers in addressing these issues, an organization must have credibility on the issue of dementia, a grasp of caregiver needs and concerns, and proven avenues for reaching caregivers across the country with specific, actionable information. Therefore it is imperative that a broad organization to support caregivers or an organization to help those around people with dementia be assigned this project. The existing caregiver support mechanisms within an organization will facilitate the successful dissemination of useful, actionable information for caregivers.

This project should be implemented through an organization currently meeting the following criteria: 1) includes caregiver support as part of its mission; 2) includes dementia support as part of its mission; 3) is national in scope and reach; 4) is independent of any for-profit entity.

The purpose of this cooperative agreement is for the Grantee to:
1. Increase caregivers’ awareness of driving safety problems among people with dementia.
2. Provide tools for caregivers to use in educating themselves and preparing to take action to help keep people with dementia safe.
3. Promote caregiver intervention with respect to driving as a positive social norm.
4. Evaluate the use and dissemination of the materials.

This project will seek to demonstrate if educational materials for caregivers of drivers with dementia can influence caregiver behavior in terms of addressing driving safety among their loved ones.
DTNH22-10-R-00322
BACKGROUND:
In general, older drivers tend to make good choices about driving safety. Through “self-restriction,” they will avoid driving at night, they don’t tend to speed, and they try driving on the roads that are less busy. The theory behind this behavior is that they recognize changes in their own capabilities and make adjustments to their driving patterns to accommodate those changes. Experts in older driver safety often point to research supporting this, frequently adding that it is not necessarily the case for drivers with dementia. Individuals with dementia are likely to not have adequate insight into the functional changes, in particular the cognitive changes that impact driving safety, and they will not be able to limit their driving in an appropriate way.

Current scientific literature on dementia and driving suggests that diagnosis of dementia alone is not adequate to justify immediate driving cessation, particularly in cases of early diagnosis. However, because dementias are degenerative diseases, it is a matter of “when,” rather than “if” the individual will have to stop driving because of safety problems.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) mission is to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes. Currently, older drivers (65+) represent approximately 13% of the drivers involved in fatal crashes. In the coming years, as the Baby boom generation ages, NHTSA expects that this proportion will rise. Along with the increasing numbers of individuals in the aging population, the number of individuals with dementia is expected to rise. As such, the number of crashes involving these individuals is expected to rise. This population is exceptionally difficult to reach directly, due in large part to the cognitive deficits that the disease brings. Caregivers, usually immediate family members, are likely to be the most influential in terms of day-to-day decisions, including decisions about driving cessation. In 2009, there were an estimated 9.9 million adult family caregivers to people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
Caregivers, often spouses or adult children, bear the brunt of keeping individuals with dementia safe both inside and out of the home. This challenge of keeping a person safe can be daunting and emotionally draining. The lack of insight in individuals with dementia, the uncertainty of when driving cessation is appropriate, and the importance of driving to an individual’s self-worth presents a huge challenge to caregivers. Added to this is the fact that many caregivers simply do not know what actions to take or what options are available to them. When it comes to driving, caregivers don’t know what to do, so they often do nothing. Research has shown that caregivers have the most immediate understanding of an individual’s status, but that they do not know what to do in terms of a) determining if an individual is safe to drive; b) asking for help from a physician or from the driver licensing authority (DMV) in making a safe driving determination, or c) preventing a driver who has been identified as unsafe from operating a motor vehicle.

Cooperative Agreement Award: NHTSA intends to award a single, Agreement for 22 months to include one (1) 12 month option period, resulting in a total possible performance period of thirty-four (34) months.

Request for Application (RFA): Solicitation DTHN22-10-R-00332 will be available for downloading from http://www.Grant.gov/ on or about February 12, 2010.