The report presents an analysis of the visual and perceptual abilities of 370 accident involved drivers in relation to their accident experience. The drivers were volunteers from a group who had been involved in road accidents investigated as part of an in-depth 'at-the-scene' study conducted by trrl. In addition to the results of tests of static and dynamic visual ability, performance tests in a driving simulator and other tests of particular aspects of cognitive performance, data were available for each road user on age, experience, sex, average distance travelled per year and self reported accident histories. The distributions of the various abilities are given in the report, as are the results of correlation and group comparison analyses. A predictive model of accident frequency as a function of age, exposure and some of the 'higher order' test results is presented. Once age and exposure had been allowed for, no correlations between accidents and 'simple' visual or performance tests could be detected. The implications of the accident model are discussed, and possible directions for future research suggested.
Samenvatting