Citation

Shipley T. Highw. Res. Board bull. 1956; 127: 53-62.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1956, National Research Council (U.S.A.), Highway Research Board)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

It is estimated that 2 percent and 5 percent of the drivers on the roads today are effectively monocular. There are at present almost no regulations concerning the safety restrictions, if any, which should be placed upon such drivers. Moreover, those few suggestions which have been made appear at best unsystematic and at worst unrealistic. This is so largely because an understanding of the nature of driving efficiency in general, and of monocular driving efficiency in particular, is very meager. The present paper is directed to this issue. Psychological and physiological factors are always coordinated in such a manner as to determine the general confidence with which one approaches a physical task such as driving, and being much more significant than the purely mechanical difficulties involved, the psychological forces largely determine the efficiency of one's performance in relation to safety criteria. The severely handicapped yet mature driver will recognize his unique limitations and act accordingly. The accident prone driver is so prone only because of the psychological meaning which driving has for him, e.g. Its very obvious power implications. It is not the eye which perceives, but rather the total integrated self. The contribution of visual prowess to driving safety has been rather fully documented. But the fundamental psychological events seem much less understood. The question of exactly what a driver experiences on the road when handicapped by some physical disability has received perhaps less attention than it should. Furthermore, clinical tests of visual efficiency are not always valid measures of actual performance in the field. Consequently, the present study was undertaken for at least two reason: To familiarize the author with the experience of the monocular driver and with certain of the more significant problems with which he may be confronted, and to develop certain safety procedures which may be of service to a monocular driver in his everday driving.