Overview
The French Interministerial Committee for Road Safety (CISR) of 18th December 2002 decided that a better knowledge of the consequences of road accidents, and particularly casualties involving cranial trauma, was to be one of the Government's action priorities in the field of the road safety.
The project proposes to study in a longitudinal way the cognitive efficiency of a sample of cranially traumatised victims in the Rhone-Alps region, as well as the dynamics of re-acquisition of knowledge related to driving and the application of adaptive behaviour.
The project will constitute the phase of clarifying tools and indicators, which could then be used in similar longitudinal studies for a significant number of subjects.
The research integrates experimental work (based on neuropsychology and cognitive psychology models) and epidemiologic work undertaken by multi-disciplinary teams.
The methodology combines three approaches:
- neuropsychological assessment (tests, specific exercises),
- observation of cranially traumatised persons in driving situations,
- and finally, laboratory-based observation of cranially traumatised persons problem resolution situations.