Senior Drivers’ Body Movement Strategies for Getting in and out of Cars: A Study by Vehicle Typology

During normal ageing, physical changes take place in the biomechanical, musculoskeletal, and psychomotor systems, that reduce strength, flexibility, motor coordination, balance, and precision of movements. This article analyses the motion behaviour of a sample of 49 senior and pre-senior subjects during the process of entry to (ingress) and exit from (egress) new car models not experienced before, obtained over five days at the Geneva International Motor Show. The methodological process is based on visual studies using photography and video to analyse motion behaviour. This investigation identifies five entry movement strategies and three exit movement strategies in three types of vehicle groups. The movements adopted in the egress of the vehicle were more complex and difficult, in general, than those observed for ingress, requiring greater flexibility, agility/dexterity, and physical strength of subjects, involving more contact or support with vehicle parts. The main factor that influenced movement strategies was essentially related to subjects’ levels of physical capacity and previous experiences. Several subjects’ movement strategies were observed in each type of vehicle, confirming that the user’s somatic experience strongly influences the interaction with new vehicles. User’s vehicles’ past experiences and their psychomotor skills determined the adopted movement strategy, which occurred in an unreflective and natural way, regardless of the new type of vehicle. However, due to substantial differences between the vehicles, some subjects may have adopted a different movement strategy in response to these variations.