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Editors Selection IGR 11-4
QOL: Driving
Comment by Ananth Viswanathan on:
12519 Useful visual field reduction as a function of age and risk of accident in simulated car driving, Roge J; Pebayle T; Campagne A et al., Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 2005; 46: 1774-1779
A current obstacle in this quest is the lack of a well accepted method of relating vision to driving performance. In their recent paper, Roge et al. (390) (REF) report on the 'useful visual field', a psychophysical test of visual attention and processing, and its relationship to age and simulator-assessed driving performance.
The authors found that older subjects had reduced useful visual field and drove more slowly in the simulator. The conclusion drawn in the manuscript is that this slower speed is an adaptation by the older subjects to their relative inability to process peripheral visual information, as evidenced by their reduced useful visual fields. This is a plausible interpretation of the results. However, it is possible that the older subjects were only limiting their speed in the artificial confines of the simulator: the results obtained in a simulator might not be replicated in the real world.
The great advantages of using a driving simulator, as the authors point out, are that the same road and traffic conditions can be applied to each subject and that collisions do not entail any physical risk. The authors used a sophisticated simulator which was able to provide appropriate kinaesthetic and proprioceptive as well as visual cues. However, simulators do suffer from some problems as tools for measuring the features of unsafe driving. Subjects are aware that their driving performance is being assessed, and they usually correctly assume that several hazardous scenarios will be encountered in a relatively short spell in the simulator. Thus, driver behaviour is likely to differ between the simulator and the road.
In summary, this study elegantly demonstrates the links between age, useful visual field and simulated driving ability. The paper offers guidance towards the important goal of finding a practical, acceptable psychophysical surrogate for visual fitness to drive.
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