Analysis of Elderly Driver’s Visual Function

Purpose : This study investigated the visual functions of drivers aged over 65 year olds and drivers aged 50~65 year olds. In addition, difference of visual functions between professional drivers and normal drivers were investigated.Methods : Forty Driver aged over 65 year olds and 67 drivers aged less than 67 year olds were participated. All participants had more than 5 years of driving experiences and had no ocular pathology. Demographic data(gender, job, age, body condition) and visual functions such as contrast sensitivity(CS), stereopsis, glare recovery time and discomfort glare index were measured.Results : Constrast sensivity under photopic condition was higher with bus driver group. In addition, difference of CS at 12cpd and 18cpd were signifcantly different between normal drivers(1.57) and bus drivers(1.70) (p<0.05). There was no significant difference for glare recovery time, despite of trend of longer recovery time with age. Discomfort glare index was significantly different that normal drivers with more than 65 year olds had 3, taxi and truck driver presented almost 5 index score (p<0.05).Conclusion : Analysis of visual function of elderly drivers, it was confirmed that their visual functions decreased with age. Therefore, visual function tests such as CS, discomfort glare index and stereopsis in addition to current available test may need to be considered for drivers aged over 65.