Citation

Wood J, Chaparro A, Hickson L. Vision Res. 2009; 49(17): 2225-2231.

Affiliation

School of Optometry and Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.visres.2009.06.017

PMID

19559721

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of visual status, driver age and the presence of secondary distracter tasks on driving performance. Twenty young (M=26.8yrs) and 19 old (M=70.2 yrs) participants drove around a closed-road circuit under three visual (normal, simulated cataracts, blur) and three distracter conditions (none, visual, auditory). Simulated visual impairment, increased driver age and the presence of a distracter task detrimentally affected all measures of driving performance except gap judgments and lane keeping. Significant interaction effects were evident between visual status, age and distracters; simulated cataracts had the most negative impact on performance in the presence of visual distracters and a more negative impact for older drivers. The implications of these findings for driving behaviour and acquisition of driving-related information for people with common visual impairments are discussed.


Keywords: Driver distraction;

Language: en