Abstract
Background: Vision is an undisputable contributor to the explanation of many human-factor related traffic crashes happening every day. The Inland Transport Committee (ITC), the United Nations regulatory platform, included on 1st April 2020 special action on the vision of road users inside the ITC Recommendations for Enhancing Road Safety Systems. The results of this wide-scale study on drivers’ vision health conducted in Spain perfectly illustrates the need of global action and its potential impact on the public health figures and the burden of potentially preventable traffic causalities. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess three key visual health issues (i.e., visual acuity, visual field campimetry and glare recovery) among Spanish drivers, in order to formulate implications and possible guidelines to enhance road safety. Methods: This cross-sectional study examined the visual health of a representative sample of 3249 drivers (70% females and 30% males) with a mean age of 41 (SD = 13) years, gathered from all the 17 autonomous communities of Spain. Results: The tests performed allowed to determine that 15% of Spanish drivers have a poor photopic vision, while 38% of them present an inadequate mesopic vision. Further, 23% of drivers have deficiencies in peripheric visual field campimetry, and the average time for full-vision recovery after a 10-s glare was 27 s. Sex, age and driver type (professional vs. non-professional) differences were found for the study variables. Conclusions: The findings of this study support the idea that certain demographic-based population groups of drivers present several unaddressed deficiencies and impairments in visual health. Overall an estimated 29.5% of Spanish drivers present visual issues, that need to be attended in order to enhance the prevention of driving crashes and the road safety of all road users.
Highlights
During the last ten years, the prevalence of visual impairments has systematically been growing in Spain [1,2]
In order to assess the importance importance attributed to visual health health in in driving driving safety, safety, drivers were asked to rate in a 0–5 scale
The number of vision-related study variables tested among participants was considerably limited and based in the advice of visual health professionals from an initial list of 15, considering the technical/logistic limitations that such massive data collection processes imply. The results of this descriptive study support a relationship between visual health and driving fitness issues, including the risks perceived by subjects in the fact of driving with impaired vision
Summary
During the last ten years, the prevalence of visual impairments has systematically been growing in Spain [1,2]. Nations regulatory platform, included on 1st April 2020 special action on the vision of road users inside the ITC Recommendations for Enhancing Road Safety Systems. The results of this wide-scale study on drivers’ vision health conducted in Spain perfectly illustrates the need of global action and its potential impact on the public health figures and the burden of potentially preventable traffic causalities. Overall an estimated 29.5% of Spanish drivers present visual issues, that need to be attended in order to enhance the prevention of driving crashes and the road safety of all road users
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