title: Interaction between visual status, driver age and distracters on daytime driving performance.
abstract: This study investigated the effects of visual status, driver age and the presence of secondary distracter tasks on driving performance. Twenty young (M=26.8years) and 19 old (M=70.2years) 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.
authors: School of Optometry and Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. j.wood@qut.edu.au
authors: Joanne
authors: J
authors: Wood
authors: Alex
authors: A
authors: Chaparro
authors: Louise
authors: L
authors: Hickson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards; D002386:Cataract / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult