Automotive manipulation in relation to vision

Abstract

Results are reported on 188 subjects at the Iowa state fair in a laboratory automobile-driving situation in regard to such factors as age, experience in driving, weight, height, average driving speed, number of cars driven, extent of visual field, visual acuity measured by stereoscope, driving score (in contacts, errors, and time), acuity by optometric methods, glare index and difference, perceptual span for numbers, astigmatic index, strength measured by hand dynamometer, and speed of movement (tapping). Correlations among various factors are low and about 50% are non-linear relationships. "The general conclusion is that perceptual span is a complex factor and is only slightly related to such specific functions as driving an automobile. It is more closely related to age and habituated response patterns than to basic capacities such as acuity of vision and size of visual field." A negative relationship was obtained between driving errors and observational ability. Driving speed correlates .2076 with observational ability. "There is some evidence that accident drivers on the average have higher motility rate, are stronger, live in larger towns and tend to compensate." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)