RESEARCH by a North-East automotive expert could lead to a dramatic reduction in the number of car accidents worldwide, it has been claimed.

University of Sunderland academic Helen Middleton and her team have been looking at ways in which cars can be modified to enhance driver safety.

Their work follows simulated driving tests at the university that showed some elderly drivers' decisions were so poor that they could put other drivers at risk.

Her findings have generated much interest, with an invitation to present them to leading automotive figures at a conference in Japan.

She will tell car manufacturers and designers in Yokohama tomorrow that car accidents could be significantly reduced if they increase technology to help elderly drivers.

Ms Middleton, of the university's Institute for Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice (AMAP), said: "About 12 per cent of drivers on European roads are elderly and that figure is expected to increase to 20 per cent by 2010. Therefore it is important we understand how driving performance changes as we get older in order to shape the future of car design and manufacture."

Technological aids that have been proposed include systems which alert drivers to acceptable traffic gaps or prevent the car being driven into unacceptable gaps.

Other ideas include warnings when cars are travelling too fast, making it unsafe to merge into traffic, and intelligent systems which automatically accelerate to safe merging speeds.