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    <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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      <title>The effects of simulated acuity and contrast sensitivity impairments on detection of pedestrian hazards in a driving simulator</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1627464</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Driving is a highly visual task, yet the vision requirements for driving licensure vary widely. All US states have a threshold for visual acuity (e.g. most use 20/40 for an unrestricted license). Contrast sensitivity (CS) is not measured for licensure, despite evidence that it may be a better predictor of crash risk than visual acuity (VA). Two experiments were conducted to investigate how simulated reductions in VA and CS affect the detection of pedestrians in a driving simulator during the daytime in a highway setting. Young normally-sighted current drivers wore goggles simulating different levels of VA and CS loss (within a range that would meet licensing criteria) and pressed the horn as soon as they saw a pedestrian. The proportion of pedestrians detected and driving speed was not different between the conditions. Reducing VA alone did not significantly reduce reaction time or the deceleration needed to stop before the collision point. However, adding a CS loss to a VA deficit increased both reaction time and the deceleration required to stop before the collision point. These results suggest that an individual’s CS should be considered when determining visual fitness to drive, especially in the early stages of ocular disease, such as cataract, where CS may be impaired while high contrast VA is still relatively unimpaired.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 05 Jun 2019 14:20:36 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1627464</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>The Relationship Between Visual Abilities and Driving Habits Among Older Drivers: A LongROAD Study</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1566020</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This study examines the relationship between measures of visual function at baseline and objective measures of driving habits averaged over a one-year follow-up period in a sample of older drivers. Results showed that participants had relatively good visual function at the time of their enrollment in the study. Analyses found that lower visual acuity and visual-spatial abilities were related to the driving behavior categories of staying closer to home, less driving overall and greater driving avoidance, although not for every measure. Poorer contrast sensitivity, which is related to one's ability to see in low-light conditions, was associated with avoidance of both nighttime driving and driving on high-speed roads but was not related to driving closer to home or overall driving.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2018 12:21:06 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1566020</guid>
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      <title>Visual Characteristics of Elderly Night Drivers in the Salisbury Eye Evaluation Driving Study</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1148310</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This article reports on a study undertaken to characterize visual factors among elderly drivers who continue to drive and those who restrict their own night driving. The Salisbury Eye Evaluation Driving Study (SEEDS) is a study of vision, cognition, and driving behaviors of older drivers living in the greater Salisbury, Maryland, metropolitan area. Patients were recruited to the study from listings in the Department of Motor Vehicle Administration. The authors report data from two visits conducted 2 years apart. Night driving was assessed using a real-time driving assessment tool, the Driving Monitor System. Night driving was defined by the presence of at least one episode of driving at night during a 5-day time period (seasonally adjusted). Participants also underwent a battery of cognitive and visual function testing including distance acuity, contrast sensitivity, and visual fields. In this article, the authors report on data from 990 of the 1080 participants (92%) attending both visits; 41% of participants reported driving at night in each visit.  The study showed that those who were younger, male, and had better measures of cognitive and visual function were observed driving at night.  Participants who were older, female, and had poorer measures of cognitive and visual function self-restricted their night driving behavior. An association was also observed between depressive symptoms and less night driving in females.  When the authors concluded multivariate analyses, they found that better contrast sensitivity and visual field detection were associated with driving at night.  However, visual acuity was not found to be significantly related to night driving.  However, about a third of drivers who were unable to read greater than 34 letters on the contrast sensitivity chart were still driving at night in this population.  The authors conclude that there is a multiplicity of factors, apart from potential visual limitations, that are involved in decisions to drive at night.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:38:28 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1148310</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>A Comparison of the Hazard Perception Ability of Matched Groups of Healthy Drivers Aged 35 to 55, 65 to 74, and 75 to 84 Years</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/912854</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This article reports on a study that compared different age groups of drivers on their abilities to perceive road hazards.  The authors examined differences in response latencies obtained during a validated, video-based hazard perception driving test in three healthy, community-dwelling groups:  22 mid-aged (35-55 years), 34 young-old (65-74 years), and 23 old-old (75-84 years) current drivers, matched for gender, education level, and vocabulary.  The results showed no significant difference in performance between mid-aged and young-old groups, but the old-old group was significantly slower than the other two groups.  Factors considered include useful field of view (UFOV), contrast sensitivity, and simple reaction time measures.  The authors conclude that their study results are consistent with the idea that increased crash risk in older adults could be a function of poorer hazard perception, though this decline does not appear to manifest until age 75 or older in healthy drivers.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:56:52 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/912854</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Hazard Perception Ability of Older Drivers</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/888946</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This article reports on a study of the hazard perception ability of older drivers. A sample of 118 older drivers (aged 65 years and older) completed a video-based hazard perception test and an assessment battery designed to measure aspects of cognitive ability, vision, and simple reaction time.  These are factors that might plausibly be linked to hazard perception ability.  The results showed that hazard perception response times increased significantly with age, however, this age-related increase could be accounted for by measures of contrast sensitivity and useful field of view.  Hazard perception ability declines with increasing age, even in a sample of older adults who considered themselves relatively healthy.  A significant proportion of individual differences in hazard perception in this sample can be attributed to cognitive and vision factors.  One section discusses the issue of contrast sensitivity, a variable that had a significant impact on hazard perception performance.  This issue is relevant for the timing of cataract removal surgery, because one major side effect of cataracts is loss of contrast sensitivity.  In addition, contrast sensitivity may be a factor that should be included in driver screening, and it could bet that creating high-contrast driving environments may improve hazard detection for those with poor contrast sensitivity.  A final section briefly considers the use of hazard perception tests as screening tools to assess fitness to drive in older adults.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2009 13:38:11 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/888946</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Glaucoma and On-Road Driving Performance</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/874844</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This article reports on a study that investigated the on-road driving performance of patients with glaucoma (n=20) compared with subjects with normal vision (n = 20).   Driving performance was tested over a 10-km route incorporating 55 standardized maneuvers and skills through residential and business districts of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.  The drivers were tested by a professional driving instructor and assessed by an occupational therapist certified in driver rehabilitation; the assessors did not know in which group each driver belonged.  The study found no significant difference between patients with glaucoma and control subjects in total satisfactory maneuvers and skills, or overall rating. However, 12 (60%) patients with glaucoma had one or more at-fault critical interventions, compared with 4 (20%) control subjects; the predominant reason for these differences were failure to see and yield to a pedestrian.  The sample of patients with glaucoma with slight-to-moderate visual field impairment performed many real-world driving maneuvers safely. However, they were six times as likely as subjects with normal vision to have a driving instructor intervene for reasons suggesting difficulty with detection of peripheral obstacles and hazards and reaction to unexpected events.  The authors conclude that their results are conservative and probably underestimate the impact of glaucoma on driving performance, in part because the on-road driving tests were restricted to nonpeak times and days with fair weather.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 29 Nov 2008 08:06:55 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/874844</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Visual and Cognitive Predictors of Driving Safety in Parkinson's Disease Patients</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/844661</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This article reports on a study undertaken to assess the clinical use of contrast sensitivity (CS) tests for predicting driving safety in participants with Parkinson's disease (PD).  The CS tests focused on attention, executive function, and visuospatial abilities in non-demented PD patients (n = 25).  The participants also underwent a formal on-road driving evaluation. Of the 25 participants, 11 received a rating of marginal or unsafe on the road test.  A poorer driving performance was associated with worse performance on measures of CS, visuospatial constructions, set shifting, and attention.  Impaired driving was associated with a range of cognitive and visual abilities.  However, only a composite measure of executive functioning and visuospatial abilities, and not CS or attentional skills, predicted driving performance.  The authors conclude that their findings support the idea that neuropsychological tests, which are multifactorial in nature and require visual perception and visual spatial judgments, are the most useful screening measures for hazardous driving in PD patients.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:10:01 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/844661</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Method of Processing Closed-Circuit Television Digital Images for Poor Visibility Identification</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/777107</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This study proposes a method for identifying poor visibility under adverse weather conditions by processing closed-circuit television (CCTV) digital images. The weighted intensity of the power spectrum (WIPS) was examined to determine its applicability as a value for the identification of poor visibility. The magnitude of WIPS represents the difference in spatial frequencies within the image on the basis of the human contrast sensitivity function. WIPS was calculated by the following image-processing procedure: the spatial frequency of the cutout image was calculated with a two-dimensional Fourier transform, and the power spectrum of the cutout image was calculated; WIPS was totaled at spatial frequencies that ranged from 1.5 to 18 cycles per degree. Two kinds of experiments were performed to determine whether WIPS represented the subjective visibility assessment values (SVAVs) given by the test subjects. Clear linear relationships between WIPS and SVAVs were found in both experiments. In addition, the two correlation lines overlapped within the whole range of WIPS. These results suggest that WIPS may be appropriate for identifying poor visibility by the use of digital images.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 25 May 2006 07:31:40 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/777107</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>New, Improved, Comprehensive, and Automated Driver's License Test and Vision Screening System</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/760373</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This one-of-a-kind comprehensive study highlights the importance of automated testing techniques and the significance of vision screening measures other than standard visual acuity testing for assessing all drivers and, in particular, at-risk drivers and older drivers.  Non-automated tests tend to be subjective, time-consuming, costly, and heavily reliant on the experience of the examiner.  Due to the high collision, injury, and fatality rates of all drivers in the State of Arizona, and the disproportionate number of at-fault older drivers and collision risks in the States of Arizona and Florida, new and automated screening methodologies and vision standards are now needed to promote road safety, predict visual impairment, and evaluate possible restriction or confiscation of driver's licenses.  This study demonstrates that environmental factors and manner of collisions increase in collision involvement for drivers between ages 50 to 59 years in both Arizona and Florida.  Drivers age 80 to 89 years in both states are most likely at-fault in collisions compared to all other age cohorts.  These results are consistent among drivers cited for collision involvement due to visual defects.  These findings, which span an 11-year period from 1991 to 2001, not only apply to Arizona and Florida, two states with some of the largest proportions of older individuals in the United States, but, as a global survey of motor vehicle bureau directors or their representatives in the United States, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia illustrate, any state, country, province, territory, commonwealth, or nation with an increasing number of older drivers.  A pilot study, to follow, ultimately allows for the implementation of effective strategies for screening of visual impairment and eye disease in all Arizona drivers.  Snellen acuity, the most widely used vision testing measure, accounts for less than 0.1% of the visual field and fails to quantify contrast sensitivity and color vision (Fink and Sadun, 2004), two of several visual parameters needed for safe driving.  It is recommended that at-risk and older drivers in Arizona be tested for vision through a newly designed system of measures provided by two automated tests (to test vision condition and function) and one driving simulator (to assess eye status).  Hence, it is integrated into a larger system and additional recommendations are provided as these relate to motor vehicle operation skills and cognition.  These automated systems and methodologies may ultimately serve as a prototype of transportation license testing improvements for all other states, countries, and agencies (e.g., aviation, rail, maritime, commercial vehicles, etc.) to follow.  Such techniques may also reduce the incidence of fraudulent schemes and issuances of driver's licenses, commercial driver's licenses, and hazardous materials transportation licenses.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Mar 2006 13:58:54 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/760373</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>OLDER DRIVERS AND CATARACTS: MEASURES OF DRIVING PERFORMANCE BEFORE AND AFTER CATARACT SURGERY</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/705172</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Cataracts are the main cause of reversible vision impairment in older adults.  An investigation examined how cataracts and cataract surgery affected driving performance and determined whether any changes in driving performance could be predicted by self-reported perceptions of driving and vision.  Twenty-eight older participants with bilateral cataracts and eighteen age-matched control participants with normal vision were tested. All were licensed drivers.  Driving and vision performance were measured before cataract surgery, after first-eye surgery, and again after second-eye surgery for the cataract participants and on three separate occasions for the control group.  Driving performance was assessed on a closed-road circuit.  Visual acuity and contrast sensitivity were also measured at each test session.  Self-perceptions of vision and driving were assessed with the Activities of Daily Vision Scale (ADVS).  The participants with cataracts had significantly poorer (p < .05) driving performance at the first visit compared with the control participants for a range of measures of driving performance, which significantly improved to the level of the control participants following cataract extraction.  Self-perceived changes in driving performance assessed with the ADVS were not strongly related to the actual changes in driving performance recorded.  Together these findings indicate that participants with cataracts have poorer driving and vision performance than age-matched control participants and that cataract surgery can result in significant improvements in driving, which are not predicted by self-reported measures such as the ADVS.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 30 Aug 2004 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/705172</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>META-ANALYSIS OF CRASH RISK FACTORS AMONG OLDER DRIVERS: APPLICATION TO A MODEL PROGRAM OF DRIVER SCREENING (ABSTRACT ONLY)</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/709454</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In the absence of disease or impairment, there is no empirical evidence that subtle, age-related changes in sensory or cognitive function affect older drivers' abilities to safely operate a motor vehicle.  However, impairments that do affect driving occur with a higher prevalence in the older population. This paper describes a meta-analysis of risk factors for automobile crash.  Risks associated with compromises in visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, visual fields, useful field of view, and mental status are examined.  Risks associated with medical conditions, medications, and physical limitations also are discussed.  Results demonstrate that visual acuity and contrast sensitivity are only weakly associated with crash risk, while cognitive variables and mental status measures are moderately associated with crash risk.  A specific measure of the Useful Field of View, UFOV (registered trademark), is strongly associated with crash risk.  These results suggest that driver evaluations aimed at detecting unsafe drivers can be significantly improved.  Specifically, evaluations can be improved by including a broader assessment of visual function, an assessment of cognitive function including the UFOV (registered trademark), an assessment of mental status, and an assessment of physical status.  An evaluation incorporating these components might facilitate driver qualification or referral for appropriate intervention.  A driver screening evaluation program incorporating these components is currently underway.  With over 2,000 older adult participants, results from this model program indicate that cognitive function, rather than visual or physical function, is most strongly associated with mobility outcomes.  Thus, interventions to maintain or improve cognitive function may also help to sustain mobility.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2002 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/709454</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>VISUAL RISK FACTORS FOR CRASH INVOLVEMENT IN OLDER DRIVERS WITH CATARACT</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/688647</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Crash risk per mile driven increases with age.  Some reasons for this include changes in vision, reaction time, physical ability, and attention.  Of particular concern is vision impairment because numerous studies find links between visual problems and increased crash involvement, self-reported driving difficulty, poor driving simulator performance, and poor on-road driving. Cataract is a highly prevalent condition among older persons and prior studies have indicated that older drivers with cataract report more driving difficulty than those without cataract.  The purpose of this article is to examine what types of visual impairment mediated the increased crash risk of older drivers. It was found that severe contrast sensitivity impairment due to cataract elevated at-fault crash risk among older drivers, even when present in only one eye.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 11 Jul 2001 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/688647</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>AGING DRIVER NEEDS FOR MOBILITY IN AN AUTOMOBILE ORIENTED REGION: 5 RESEARCH STUDIES</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/471399</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This research collection is comprised of five separate studies supported entirely or in part under this grant.  These studies are:  (1) "Dynamic Visual Acuity at High Angular Velocities" by A.T. Perry, a preliminary study of differences between static and dynamic visual acuity and the significance of such changes with age; (2) "Thoughts on Elderly Driver Vision" by A.T. Perry; (3) "Changes in Color Discrimination as a Function of Age" by F.A. Greene, a preliminary assessment of visual performance shifts with age; (4) "Spare Visual Capacity of Drivers" by L.K. Roush, R.Q. Brackett, and V.J. Pezoldt, a study with direct relevance to IVHS design that presents a methodology suitable for use in studying changes in driver workload capacity as a function of age; and (5) "Visibility through Scatter" by B.A. Wright, a study relating losses in contrast sensitivity, typical with age, to sight distance on the highway.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 07 Mar 1997 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/471399</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>SELECTIVE VISUAL DEGRADATION AND THE OLDER DRIVER</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/481455</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Drivers of all ages experience serious visual impairment in low illumination.  These unavoidable visual losses seem to be of little concern to younger drivers as their night driving behavior changes little to compensate for their diminished capabilities.  In contrast, older drivers are inclined to avoid night driving, and this concern seems to arise largely because they are disturbed by limitations of their vision in low light. Differences between younger and older drivers are examined here in light of the "two-visual systems hypothesis", which emphasizes that not all visual functions are equally degraded by reduced illumination.  From this viewpoint, the excessive confidence of younger drivers at night has been attributed to the selective nature of visual losses in low light, when "focal" functions like acuity and contrast sensitivity deteriorate, but "ambient" functions like visual orientation and control of locomotion remain highly efficient.  This account is not complete, however, until it can also explain the more cautious behavior of older drivers.  The present paper moves toward a more general theory of night driving behavior through consideration of (1) age-related changes in basic visual processes which occur gradually across the adult life-span, (2) recent investigations of the role of vision as a contributing factor in specific classes of fatal road accidents; and (3) new evidence suggesting that "ambient" as well as "focal" visual functions are affected by aging.  Though tentative, the "selective degradation hypothesis" promotes a realistic analysis of the role of vision in night driving.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 05 Mar 1997 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/481455</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>THE VISUAL AND DRIVING PERFORMANCE OF MONOCULAR AND BINOCULAR HEAVY-DUTY TRUCK DRIVERS</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/358888</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This study compared the performance of 40 monocular and 40 binocular tractor-trailer drivers on measures of both visual and driving performance.  On the visual measures, the monocular drivers were significantly deficient in contrast sensitivity, visual acuity under low illumination and glare, and binocular depth perception.  They were not significantly deficient in static or dynamic visual acuity, visual field of individual eyes, or glare recovery.  Driving measures of visual search, lane keeping, clearance judgement, gap judgement, hazard detection, and information recognition showed no differences between monocular and binocular drivers.  Monocular drivers were poorer than binocular drivers only in sign reading distance in both daytime and nighttime driving.  This decrement correlated significantly with the binocular depth perception measure.  There were large individual differences within each group for most of the visual and driving performance measures.  It was concluded that monocular drivers have some significant reductions in selected visual capabilities and in certain driving functions dependent on these abilities, compared with binocular drivers.  However, monocular drivers are not significantly worse than binocular drivers in the safety of most day-to-day driving functions.  Implications of these findings and the large individual differences within each group are discussed.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 31 Aug 1996 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/358888</guid>
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