VISUAL ACUITY AND DRIVING

Many people with below normal visual perception are able to drive safely, demonstrating that the present standard set by the driving test is adequate. Evidence suggest that defects of visual perception, of the visular field and ocular muscle balance are the cause of many road accidents. A majority of traffic accidents are due to visual causes rather than visual defects. Among these causes are a lack of visual concentration, defective visual judgement defective perception, and defective co-ordination of hand or foot and eye. The author describes these defects and suggest the type of accident that may occur in each case. It is supposed that defective vision makes up part of the 1.5 per cent of all accidents due to medical causes. It is difficult to assess the sole contribution of defective visual perception in causing traffic accidents as it is only one factor among many. Some form of accident registration is required for accidents where somebody involved needed hospital treatment. /TRRL/

• Corporate Authors:

  Churchill (J&A), Limited

  Gloucester Place 104
  London W I,   England 
• Authors:
  • Cross, A G
• Publication Date: 1966

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 627-631
• Serial:
  • Ophthalmological Societies of the UK, Transactions
  • Volume: 86
  • Publisher: Churchill (J&A), Limited

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash causes; Crashes; Defects; Driver performance; Drivers; Driving tests; Eye movements; Perception; Personnel performance; Traffic crashes; Vision; Visual perception
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 5238: Defect (tech); 1772: Driver; 2229: Perception; 2066: Vision
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00127809
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 16 1975 12:00AM