Much of our previous research has focused on older drivers and the difficulties that they face when driving. Vision is believed to be essential for safe driving, hence the deterioration of vision, through normal ageing and eye disease, is likely to be a major contributing factor to the changes in driving performance seen with increasing age.
Dr Wood and her team have investigated how vision and vision impairment affect driving performance under closed and open road conditions and have sought to identify which tests best predict driving performance.
Closed Road Studies
The Vision and Driving group uses a fully instrumented research vehicle for it’s projects (Nissan Maxima donated by Nissan of Japan).
Measurements of driving performance have been made at the closed-road circuit facilities at Mt Cotton Training Centre, Brisbane 
, and have been made possible through ongoing collaboration with Queensland Government’s Department of Transport and Main Roads who own and manage the facilities.
The driving track comprises a bitumen road with 2 and 3 lanes including hills, bends, straight stretches and standard road signs, and is representative of driving on rural roads.
The research team has been able to assess driving performance under normal driving conditions, rather than making indirect judgments about driving performance via crash rate data or computer simulations.
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| Section of the driving circuit | Wildlife at the driving track |
Selected References
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Wood JM, Troutbeck R. (1992) The effect of restriction of the binocular visual field on driving performance.
Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics, 12: 291-298. -
Wood JM, Dique T, Troutbeck R. (1993) The effect of artificial visual impairment on functional visual fields and driving performance.
Clinical Vision Sciences, 8: 563-575. -
Wood JM, Troutbeck R (1994) The effect of visual impairment on driving.
Human Factors, 36: 476-487. -
Wood JM, Troutbeck R (1995) Elderly drivers and simulated visual impairment.
Optometry & Visual Science, 72: 115-124. -
Higgins KE, Wood JM, Tait AW. (1998) Vision and driving: selective effect of optical blur on different driving tasks.
Human Factors, 40: 224-232. -
Wood JM. (1999) How do visual status and age impact on driving performance as measured on a closed circuit driving track.
Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics, 19: 34-40. -
Wood JM. (2002) Age and visual impairment decrease driving performance as measured on a closed-road circuit.
Human Factors, 44: 482-494. -
Wood JM, Garth D, Grounds G, McKay P, Mulvahil A. (2003) Pupil dilation does affect some aspects of daytime driving performance.
British Journal of Ophthalmology, 87: 1387-1390. -
Higgins KE, Wood JM. (2005) Predicting components of closed road driving performance from vision tests.
Optometry and Vision Science, 82: 647-656. -
Wood JM, Carberry TP. (2006) Bilateral cataract surgery and driving performance.
British Journal of Ophthalmology, 90: 1277-1280.
Open Road Studies
Open road studies are conducted in collaboration with a driving instructor and an occupational therapist using a dual-brake vehicle.
Driving performance is assessed while people drive along a standardised route under in-traffic conditions and is scored using a validated scoring system, which provides information about the types of errors made as well as the types of driving situations in which errors are most common.
This approach has been used to assess older adults with different visual and systemic conditions and to identify multi-disciplinary batteries of tests which best predict driving safety.
Selected References
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Wood JM, Mallon K. (2001) Comparison of driving performance of young and old drivers (with and without visual impairment) measured under in-traffic conditions.
Optometry & Vision Science, 78: 343-349. -
Mallon K, Wood JM. (2004) Occupational therapy assessment of open-road driving performance: Validity of directed and self-directed navigational instructional components.
American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 58: 279-286. -
Wood JM, Worringham C, Kerr G, Mallon K, Silburn P. (2005) Quantitative Assessment of Driving Performance in Parkinson’s Disease.
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 76: 176-180. -
Worringham C, Wood JM, Kerr G, Silburn P. (2006) Predictors of driving assessment outcome in Parkinson’s Disease.
Movement Disorders. 21: 230-235. -
Wood JM, Anstey K, Kerr G, Lord S, Lacherez P. (2008) A multi-domain approach for predicting older driver safety under in-traffic road conditions.
Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 56(6), 986-993. -
Wood JM, McGwin Jr.G, Elgin J, Vaphiades MS, Braswell RA, DeCarlo DK, Kline LB, Meek GC, Searcey K, Owsley C. (2009) On-road driving performance by persons with hemianopia and quadrantanopia.
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 50(2):577-85. -
Anstey K, Wood JM, Caldwell H, Kerr G, Lord S. (2009) Comparison of self-reported crashes, state crash records and an on road driving assessment in a population-based sample of drivers aged 69-95 years. Traffic Injury Prevention, 10: 84-90.
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Wood JM, Anstey KJ, Lacherez PF, Kerr GK, Mallon K, Lord SR. (2009). The on-road difficulties of older drivers and their relationship with self-reported motor vehicle crashes.
Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 57: 2062-2069. -
Elgin J, McGwin G, Wood JM, Vaphiades MS, Braswell RA, DeCarlo DK, Kline LB, & Owsley C. Evaluation of on-road driving in people with hemianopia and quadrantanopia. American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2010; 64: 1–11.