The present report is the result of work over the years 2003 and 2004 performed for the European Community in the field of transport safety. In response to the "call for proposals with a view to obtaining grants in the field of transport" (2001/C 202/12) published 18 July 2001, especially paragraph 3.4 on safety of Inland Transport, a consortium named GLARE was formed at the end of 2002 to study questions related to driving safety, more in particular to the danger of glare. Participants were ophthalmological university clinics in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Salzburg and Tübingen, as well as a research lab in Amsterdam. Later, the clinic in Antwerp joined the group. A grant was obtained from the Directorate-General for Energy and Transport of the European Community. For safe driving, eyesight is beyond doubt a major issue, and we propose to improve upon eyesight testing and upon awareness of eyesight problems. Point 6 of annex III of directive 91/439/EEG, gives minimum demands for the visual capacity of applicants for driver licensing. These demands should be based on proper knowledge of their relation to driver safety. Their definition and way of measurement should be unambiguous. Moreover, several visual functions are not included, notably disability glare. It was the intention of the present investigation to further our knowledge with respect to these questions. The efforts of several groups are combined in a European-broad project. One methodological group and 5 ophthalmological groups all over Europe joined forces to assess the potential of glare testing and the prevalence of visual deficits among European drivers in order to gather data needed for European decision making upon driver licensing. Although this report reflects the joined efforts of many individuals, most of the actual writing was in the hands of: Gerard de Wit (compilation, intro's and summaries of chapters 2&3, sections 2.4, 3.2 and 3.3.2), René van Rijn (chapter 1), Luuk Franssen (sections 2.2, 2.6 and 3.5), Joris Coppens (section 2.3) and Tom van den Berg (sections 2.7, 3.2, 3.3.1 and 3.3.3). (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting