Driver Assessment and Rehabilitation

Driver Assessment and Rehabilitation
The SeniorSMART® Driver Assessment and Rehabilitation program, an initiative between Clemson University and Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center has recently expanded to include Palmetto Health, now offers services to the upstate and the midlands.  The initial Driver Assessment and Rehabilitation lab began at Clemson University under the guidance of one of their faculty members, internationally renowned driving researcher, Dr. Johnell Brooks.  An additional Driver Assessment and Rehabilitation clinic is now located at Roger C. Peace, 701 Grove Road, Greenville on the Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center Campus, with new expansion to Columbia, located at Carolina Medical Plaza, 3010 Farrow Rd., Suite 300 on the east side of the Palmetto Health Richland Campus. 

The SeniorSMART® Driver Assessment and Rehabilitation program, part of SmartWHEELS® addresses the needs of South Carolina's growing aging driving population.  The program has developed objective training and assessment programs in addition to developing and evaluating new products and services.  This unique collaboration houses university laboratories within a major healthcare system for cutting-edge multidisciplinary research with strong industry relationships. The partnership strives to be the recognized national leader in aging driving, enabling the aging population to drive as long as safely possible through research and innovation.

The mission of this collaboration is to:
 Enable aging drivers to maximize independence as long as safely possible
 Maximize solutions to assess the "total" driver, inside and outside of the vehicle, through interdisciplinary partnerships between universities,         health care facilities, governmental agencies, and industries
 Improve the quality of patient care and clinical effectiveness through new services, equipment, and technologies
 Develop marketable products and billable services requiring a highly skilled workforce

To accomplish this mission, patients can practice their driving related skills in a safe setting by either utilizing a large DriveSafety driving simulator, located in the Department of Geriatrics at Greenville Memorial Hospital University Medical Center, or a smaller DriveSafety driving simulator, located at Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Hospital on the Greenville campus or at Palmetto Health in Columbia  To further gather objective performance data, engineers at CU-ICAR's Campbell Graduate Engineering Center have instrumented a 2010 Toyota Avalon with sensors for on-road assessments.  In addition CU-ICAR houses a research lab that has a Drive Safety driving simulator and multiple ongoing research projects.