Allstate Starts Offering Computer Games to Sharpen Driving Skills

NORTHBROOK, IL --- Allstate Insurance is launching a brain fitness software program, InSight, aimed at improving driving skills.

Unlike most brain fitness software, InSight is designed to reverse age-related cognitive decline and greatly improve a driver's visual alertness. If using the software is successful in reducing accident rates among customers 50 years and older, Allstate said it will begin offering discounts to drivers who use the computer-based exercises to help improve their mental sharpness.

Allstate has entered into a relationship with Posit Science, a leader in clinically validated brain fitness programs and developer of InSight, to offer this software program.

"With this revolutionary program, we're offering people an innovative solution in hopes of improving their personal safety and quality of life," said Tom Warden, assistant vice president of Allstate Research and Planning Center.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were 30 million licensed drivers age 65 and older in 2006, an 18 percent increase from 1996. The number of mature drivers will only continue to rise as those from the baby boomer generation become seniors.

The Posit Science software has been shown in more than a dozen National Institutes of Health funded studies to improve visual processing skills known to be important for safe driving. The technology has been shown to reduce dangerous driving maneuvers by up to 40 percent and improve stopping distance by an average of 22 feet when traveling at 55 miles per hour. In fact, scientific studies have demonstrated that training can reduce crash risk by up to 50 percent. Allstate's rollout is intended to evaluate interest in and effectiveness of this approach to improving driving performance.

Allstate and Posit Science will launch the test of the InSight software program in Pennsylvania. Allstate will invite selected Pennsylvania drivers 50 years and older to help validate the impact that cognitive training has on driving safety.

To see an ABC News segment on the program, click here. To check out one of the games, click here and download.

Posit Science is a major provider of clinically validated brain fitness products and services.