Postgraduate Research Students
Trent Carberry (PhD)
Efty Stavrou (PhD)
Byoung Sun Chu (PhD)
Research Assistants
Ralph Marszalek
Paul Cowburn
Australian Collaborators
Professor David Atchison (School of Optometry, QUT)
Kevin Jones (Faculty of Built Environment & Engineering, QUT)
Professor Rod Troutbeck (Faculty of Built Environment & Engineering, QUT)
Professor Louise Hickson (Division of Audiology, UQ)
International Collaborators
Associate Professor Alex Chapparo (Wichita State University, Kansas)
Professor Kent Higgins (The Lighthouse Inc, New York)
Professor Fred Owens (Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania)
Professor Rick Tyrrell (Clempson University, South Carolina)
The Vision and Driving research group is led by Dr Joanne Wood, a Professor in the School of Optometry at the Queensland University of Technology. Dr Wood's research focus has been to investigate the relationship between vision and driving performance, particularly in the elderly, and her involvement in this area of research spans more than 10 years. Dr Wood has collaborated with a range of investigators, including Professor Rod Troutbeck and Kevin Jones of the Faculty of Engineering, QUT, Professor David Atchison of the School of Optometry, QUT, Professor Louise Hickson of the Division of Audiology, UQ, Professor Kent Higgins of the Lighthouse Inc, New York, Professor Fred Owens of the Department of Psychology at Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania, Professor Rick Tyrrell from Clemson University, South Carolina, and, most recently, Associate Professor Alex Chaparro of Wichita State University, Kansas.
Measurements of driving performance for much of this research have been made at the closed road circuit driving facilities at Mt Cotton, Brisbane, which are owned and managed by Queensland Transport. The research team has been able to assess driving performance under normal driving conditions, rather than making indirect judgements about driving performance via crash rate data or computer simulations. Such an approach to vision and driving research is unique and is receiving world-wide interest; the outcomes of the research have been presented at conferences in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and in Europe. In addition, the research team, in collaboration with Kevin Jones, has developed a measurement system which allows accurate measurement of the distances at which drivers are able to detect and recognise road objects, such as road signs, pedestrians and other road objects. The QUT measurement system is based upon photogrammetric principles and was further developed as part of Dr Mark Woolf's PhD research. It has been used in a number of studies undertaken by the research team.
Older Drivers
Much of the focus of Dr Wood's research has been on older drivers. Previous research has demonstrated that older drivers have more driving difficulties and higher crash rates per distance driven than any other sector of the driving population. This is of importance to road safety as the elderly comprise the fastest growing segment of the driving population. Since vision is clearly essential for safe driving, the deterioration in vision through normal aging, as well as through common eye diseases, is likely to be a major contributing factor to the changes in driving performance we see with increased age. Dr Wood's research to date has looked at how vision and vision impairment (resulting from the eye diseases cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration, which are relatively common in elderly people) affect driving performance under closed and open road conditions. The open road studies were undertaken using a dual brake vehicle, with drivers being assessed by a driver trained occupational therapist and professional driving instructor using a standardised route and scoring system. The findings have shown that vision impairment can significantly reduce driving performance. These results are of concern, as all of the drivers that were tested hold a current drivers licence. However, the studies also showed that many older drivers retain a high level of driving performance.
Collaborative research with Nissan, Japan further investigated how older drivers react to road and driving conditions on the closed road. Using a high-tech car equipped by Nissan, Japan, the research team tracked drivers' eye movements, speed, acceleration and braking and attention while driving.
Driving performance in older people is also being investigated under the Prevention of Older People's Injuries Study (POPI) (http://www.powmri.edu.au/POPI/). The aim of this project is to establish whether various visual, attentional and cognitive measures can be used to predict driving performance in community dwelling people aged over 70 years. Information is collected on their driving history and driving behaviour. Participants are tested on standard optometric vision tests as well as tests of peripheral visual attention (useful field of vision) and motion sensitivity. Participants also complete a series of cognitive tests and questionnaire-based measures. Following these tests, driving performance for these participants is measured on both the closed and open road as outlined above. The results from these driving measures can then be related to the visual, attentional and cognitive measures to validate an assessment screen for accurately identifying drivers who may not be capable of safe driving.
Other studies are looking specifically at how cataracts (opacities of the lens), which are quite common among elderly drivers, affect driving performance. These studies are conducted by measuring driving and vision before and after cataract surgery, and are a world first in this area of investigation. These studies are being undertaken under both daytime and night-time conditions, and are demonstrating very large improvements in many aspects of driving and vision performance following cataract surgery. This study is currently in progress. In addition, this project has started examining the effect of other eye diseases (including glaucoma and ARMD) on driving performance.
The long-term goal of all of these studies is to develop better techniques for identifying which drivers are at risk, and for advising drivers of how to adjust for the age-related changes in their performance and hence maintain their own independence for longer.
Night Driving
Dr Wood and her research team previously undertook research on night driving in collaboration with Professor Fred Owens, Chair and Professor of Franklin Marshall College, Pennsylvania, who visited QUT in 1998 and 2001. They have developed techniques to assess driving performance under low light levels on the closed road and have been looking at the differences in daytime and night-time driving behaviour in both young and old drivers, and the impact that vision has on this relationship. Their findings indicate that many drivers fail to compensate for unavoidable limitations at night. They also found that the older drivers had more difficulty in recognising pedestrians positioned on the side of the road under night-time conditions than did the younger drivers. However, when the pedestrians wore retro-reflective materials on their moving joints (biomotion), this age-related decrement was greatly ameliorated. Since pedestrian fatalities increase as illumination decreases, even when other factors are held constant, work that aids in pedestrian visibility is clearly of great importance.
This research has been followed up with a series of collaborative studies with Professor Rick Tyrrell of Clemson University. This research measured the relative visibility distances of pedestrians wearing different clothing combinations using the QUT measurement system. These measures were then compared with pedestrian's estimates of their own visibility. It was found that pedestrians grossly overestimated the ability of drivers to recognise them at night. In particular, when pedestrians wore black and were approached by a vehicle with low-beam headlights, they failed to correctly judge that drivers commonly could not see them in time to stop safely. This study also indicated the impact that retroreflective material in a biomotion configuration could have in improving visibility, which was not appreciated by the pedestrians in the study. These studies are currently being extended to include cyclist and roadworker visibility at night, and the interaction of factors including clutter, glare and the visual characteristics of the driver.
Effect of Distractors on Performance
With the advent of new technologies such as mobile phones, night vision systems and electronic maps, the question arises of how drivers can attend to these in-vehicle devices and the driving environment simultaneously. The research team, in conjunction with Associate Professor Alex Chaparro and Professor Louise Hickson, recently undertook a study to examine the performance of young and old drivers when exposed to a visual or auditory distractor task whilst driving on a closed road circuit. In addition, participants performed these tasks under conditions designed to simulate visual impairment, in order to demonstrate how these tasks could become more difficult for an individual with an eye disease. The results from this study are currently being analysed. The scope of this study has now been extended to investigate these relationships in drivers with a range of visual, cognitive and hearing impairments.
Postgraduate Students
Several postgraduate students have projects operating within the vision and driving team:
- Trent Carberry is conducting research examining the attitudes and behaviour of older drivers with eye disease, and comparing this data with existing models of driving risk.
- Efty Stavrou is investigating determinants of motor vehicle incidents in the older population.
- Byoung Sun Chu is investigating how different presbyopic corrections affect driving performance.
