A comparison of the driving skills of paraplegic and able-bodied individuals

The purpose of this study was to compare the driving skills of paraplegic individuals with diverse driving experience with that of able-bodied individuals who had just successfully completed a driver education course. Specifically, the study sought to answer the following question: Can paraplegic individuals with diverse driving experience perform the driving task as well as or better than able-bodied individuals who had just successfully completed a driver education course?

The two groups of subjects used in the study included 30 able-bodied and 30 paraplegic individuals. The able-bodied subjects were individuals who had just successfully completed a driver education course at The University of Tennessee in Knoxville. The paraplegic group consisted of individuals from the Knoxville and Maryville areas of East Tennessee who operated an automobile using hand controls and who volunteered to participate in the study conducted during the Winter and Spring quarters of 1982.

A driving questionnaire was completed by both groups of subjects in order to identify information concerning the subject's driving experience. The McGlade Road Test was used to measure the subject's driving performance.

The One-Way Analysis of Variance Test for independent samples was employed to determine if differences in the mean driving skills of able-bodied and paraplegic subjects existed between the two groups. Percentage computations were used to analyze the information gathered from the driving questionnaire. From the statistical analysis of the McGlade Road Test it was found that the driving skills of paraplegic individuals with diverse driving experience were better than the driving skills of able-bodied individuals who had just successfully completed a driver education course. Based on the research which was conducted for this study, it was concluded that paraplegic individuals with diverse driving experience can perform the driving task as well as or better than able-bodied individuals who had just successfully completed a driver education course.