Driving is a behavior that, like flying, is thought to be largely guided by visual information. Public safety demands that this privilege sometimes be denied, postponed, or revoked because of deficient vision. Unfortunately, the minimal visual requirements for driving vary markedly across states. What is """"""""safe"""""""" in one state is not in another. Determining the minimal requirements for driving will become increasingly important as the prevalence of both elderly and visually-impaired persons increases. The long-term objective of the proposed research is to develop an interactive driving simulator that could be used to train, evaluate, and study driving performance in visually and physically impaired as well as new and elderly drivers. In Phase I, SINTEX Corporation will construct a prototype interactive driving simulator incorporating advanced display technology, as used in modern flight simulation.
The Specific Aims of this Phase I proposal are 1) to develop realistic visuals (the data-base) for a driving simulator and 2) to integrate this visual data-base with, initially, 3 components of a driving console: steering wheel, brake, and accelerator. In Phase II, we will propose expansion of the visual data-base to include both a critical-incident as well as routine driving scenarios in a working prototype (Phase I, Year 1). the efficacy of this prototype will then be field-tested through a collaborative research program with the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in Philadelphia, PA.
