Visual Acuity and Factors Influencing Automobile Driving Status in 1,000 Patients Age 60 and Older

This article reports the results of a study of visual acuity and factors that influence automobile driving status in persons aged 60 and older. The authors assessed the number of people driving in accordance with common legal standards, measured through far binocular visual acuity (defined as equal or better than 20/40), and identified variables associated with driving habits outside of those legal standards. Participants (447 women and 553 men, of whom 810 were current drivers) were recruited in Belgium, and underwent ophthalmological examination, including measurement of visual acuity, then answered detailed questionnaires covering demographic, socioeconomic, and medical characteristics. Among the 810 current drivers, 732 (90.4%) had a far binocular visual acuity equal or better than 20/40, and 78 (9.6%) did not have that level of visual acuity. Among the 190 non-drivers, 94 (49.5%) never drove; 47 (24.7%) had stopped driving because of their impaired vision; and 49 (25.8%) had stopped driving for other reasons. The authors found factors that influenced driving habits among the licensed drivers without appropriate visual acuity included a non-recent ophthalmological examination, the subject’s non-perception of impaired vision, and non-access to stores without a car. The authors conclude with a brief discussion of the implications of these findings, including the need for policy makers to consider future public and alternative transportation resources, to support the needs of people with reduced mobility and sensory impairments.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-012-2146-x
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/0721832X
• Authors:
  • Levecq, Laurent
  • De Potter, Patrick
  • Jamart, Jacques
• Publication Date: 2013-3

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 881-887
• Serial:
  • Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology
  • Volume: 251
  • Issue Number: 3
  • Publisher: Springer-Verlag
  • ISSN: 0721-832X
  • EISSN: 1435-702X
  • Serial URL: http://link.springer.com/journal/417

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged drivers; Automobile drivers; Driver performance; Driving cessation; High risk drivers; Mobility; Vision; Vision tests; Visually impaired persons
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01529153
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 27 2014 3:27PM