Adaptive Vehicle Lighting Visual Perform

T HE D ETROIT I NSTITUTE OF O PHTHALMOLOGY
A division of the Henry Ford Department of Ophthalmology
The Eye, The Brain & The Auto
6th Biennial
WORLD RESEARCH CONGRESS
on
The Relationship Between Vision and the
Safe Operation of a Motorized Vehicle
SEPTEMBER 16 - 18, 2013

The Henry
Dearborn, Michigan
2013 World Congress: The Eye, the Brain & The Auto
Sixth Biennial World Research Congress on the relationship between vision and
the safe operation of a motorized vehicle.
September 16-18, 2013
Order Live Streaming ($150) of the 3-day event or
order a USB Flash Drive Set ($300) of all 3 days of the congress
Please type or print in ink
Last Name/First Name/Middle Initial
Degree/Title
Company
Address
City/State/Postal Code
Telephone/Work/Home/Cell
Payment Live Streaming $150 Check/Money Order

Payment USB Set $300 Make payable to: Henry Ford Health System/DIO
Credit Card Visa MasterCard Discover Am. Exp.
Name on Card (Type or Print)
Card Number Expiration Date CCV
Signature
Mail, fax or email completed form to: The Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology, 15415 E. Jefferson Avenue,
Grosse Pointe Park, MI 48230
Phone: 313-824-4710 Fax 313-822-4233 cbarth2@hfhs.org
Live Streaming will be available at www.dioworldcongresses.com
th
Online On-Demand access of Congress Video Presentation will be available after September 18
at www.dioworldcongresses.com . Access will be available for 6 months following the congress. Please navigate
to this site and obtain a username and password via the user-friendly shopping cart to watch the congress
presentations.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
WELCOME LETTER – PAUL EDWARDS MD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

WELCOME LETTER – PHILIP C HESSBURG MD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
DETROIT INSTITUTE OF OPHTHALMOLOGY/ACCREDITATION/DESIGNATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
CONGRESS PLANNING TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
CONGRESS 3-DAY SCHEDULE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
SPEAKER LIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
ABSTRACTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
POSTER PRESENTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
POSTER ABSTRACTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
BARTIMAEUS AWARD – PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
WORLD CONGRESS FLASH DRIVE SET ORDER FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
SUPPORTING SPONSORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Live Streaming and Audio-Visual Services Provided by Dynasty Media Network.
The Eye, The Brain & The Auto

Welcome
On behalf of Henry Ford Health System and the Henry Ford Department of Ophthalmology, I
would like to welcome you to this year’s The Eye, The Brain and The Auto World Congress
hosted by the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology (DIO). We are pleased to have the DIO
as part of our health system serving as the research and education arm of Henry Ford’s
Department of Ophthalmology.
Philip Hessburg, M.D., Medical Director of the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology (DIO)
along with the entire DIO team and the planning team for this World Congress, have
brought together some of the world’s foremost experts on the relationship between vision
and driving as we explore ways to enhance the understanding of the relationship between
vision and the safe operation of motorized vehicles.
Over the next several days, more than 30 visual researchers and auto industry experts, from across the globe, will share
their research and serve as a catalyst for a robust discussion about vision and motorized vehicles and how to reduce the
number of highway fatalities. Our hope is that the research being done by members of this congress will impact the safety
of the operation of motor vehicles by individuals that have visual impairment.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our esteemed panel of presenters who have traveled from near and far as well
as each of our attendees for participating in this year’s World Congress. I am delighted that you are joining us and hope
you find the presentations and conversations very valuable and informative.
Sincerely,
Paul A. Edwards, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Henry Ford Health System
Chairman, Department of Ophthalmology
The McCole Chair
The Eye, The Brain & The Auto 2

Welcome
Welcome to The Eye, The Brain, and The Auto, 2013. We at the Detroit Institute of
Ophthalmology, now a division of the Department of Ophthalmology of the Henry Ford
Health System, are proud to again present this World Research Congress.
It is welcome news that in the past decade there has been a dramatic reduction of deaths
on American highways. This is true in most other developed countries as well. In the
United States we have seen a reduction from over 40,000 deaths per year to about 30,000.
This has been due to advances in the auto industry, in the design of roadways, to stricter
laws related to drunk driving, and to a myriad of other factors.
Some think, as do I, that The Eye and The Auto Research Congresses on this subject
supported by the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology have also played a supportive role.
Work first presented here has travelled the globe. Scientists at each Congress have come
to enjoy each other in a spirit of collegiality which has bred collaborative efforts among countries, and between continents,
that are directly responsible for some of this progress. Yes, we are proud of this.
But is this our only quest? Is that all we are about? I think not.
Physicians among our group are acutely aware that a second goal is to preserve the independence of our patients
whenever that is prudent and possible. Loss of a license to drive in the United States, and now in much of the free world,
is tantamount to loss of independence. Ample evidence reveals that with loss of mobility comes depression, increased
health care challenges, and very significant concomitant increased health care expenses. But we struggle to define what
parameters to recommend. What visual acuity cut-off should we back? So far we are aware of no data to show that best
corrected visual acuities of 20/80 or even 20/100 in the better eye are associated with increased crash rates. Yet cut-offs
are far below that. What visual field determinants should be endorsed by us as scientists in this field? Isn’t a patient with
retinitis pigmentosa and a central field of only four or five degrees a greater threat on the highway than a patient with a
longstanding, well compensated, significant homonymous field defect? Yet some states and principalities limit vision testing
to acuity and perfunctory or no field testing. And does color vision mean anything? It certainly may in aviation where landing
lights of various colors may be critical, but even drivers with profound color vision challenges tell us they judge critically at
intersections by signal light brightness and location even though they may not see color well enough to pass an Ishihara
Test. Or should we use a Clock test or a Map test to sort out cognitive challenges that ought to have overarching importance
relative to driving? All of us have seen elderly couples where the driver sees well enough to pass the acuity tests but needs
the spouse to find the way home. Where do we, at this Congress, fit in? How do we help maintain the independence and
mobility of those who deserve it while prudently advising Motor Vehicle Bureaus in our various nations?
Much has been written. Many standards are published. Where does truth lie? Or is it never to be revealed? This congress
provides the format for experts in the field to pursue these truths in a collegial fashion. In 2001 (the first The Eye and The
Auto), crash avoidance systems and dashboard design advances were big issues – now they are standard equipment on
most cars. Are we headed in the direction which will enable the blind to drive?
Again, welcome to The Eye, The Brain, and The Auto, 2013
Philip C. Hessburg, M.D.

Medical Director
Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology
Henry Ford Department of Ophthalmology
pchessburg@dioeyes.org
eyeson.org
3 The Eye, The Brain & The Auto

THE DETROIT INSTITUTE OF OPHTHALMOLOGY
The Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology (DIO) aims to be the leader in
accelerating international collaboration in vision-related research,
and to continue as a leader in helping the visually impaired maintain
independence and dignity.
As of June 2012, The Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology (DIO) is a division

of the Department of Ophthalmology of the Henry Ford Health System and
is recognized as its research education arm. The DIO programs that are
continuing under the Department of Ophthalmology are:
Research Congresses
The Eye & The Chip: A research congress dedicated to accelerating progress toward the goal of developing artificial vision
by providing a format for exchange of scientific advances and discussion among internationally recognized experts.
The Eye, The Brain & The Auto: A research congress focused on the relationship between vision, the brain, and the safe
operation of a motorized vehicle.
Support for the Visually Impaired

With help from its volunteer arm, Friends of Vision, services for the visually impaired include support groups, the Martha F.
Gorey Resource Center (offering low vision aids), and the AT&T Computer Training Lab.
Public & Professional Education

Program materials and information on vision loss are distributed to physician offices, local libraries and through community
events. The DIO also holds seminars for emergency physicians and hosts ophthalmology resident lectures.
DIO Program Funding

The DIO programs are funded by contributions from individuals, foundations, corporations, and from proceeds from its
fundraising events – EyesOn Design car show and associated events, EyesOn Design Awards at the North American
International Auto Show, and participation in the Detroit Free Press Marathon through Steps for Sight.
HENRY FORD DEPARTMENT OF OPHTHALMOLOGY

One of the largest ophthalmology practices in the U.S., the Henry Ford Health System Department of Ophthalmology
provides convenient, high-quality and compassionate care, treating more than 55,000 patients annually at 12 locations
throughout southeast Michigan. Board-certified physicians provide comprehensive and coordinated adult and pediatric
eye care, as well as specialized medical and surgical treatment for all eye conditions. Advanced treatment options are
offered, led by continuous research and evidence-based medicine.
The department includes the nationally recognized Henry Ford Center for Vision Rehabilitation and Research, providing
rehabilitation to help people with low vision conditions.

ACCREDITATION STATEMENT:
Henry Ford Health System is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide
continuing medical education for physicians. Henry Ford Health System takes responsibility for the content, quality, and
scientific integrity of this CME activity.
DESIGNATION STATEMENT:
Henry Ford Health System designates this live course for a maximum of 16.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM.
Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation.
FACULTY/PLANNING COMMITTEE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT:

All faculty and planning committee members and spouses/partners of those participating in continuing education activities
sponsored by Henry Ford Health System are required to disclose to the audience any relevant commercial relationships,
and/or non-FDA approved use of a drug or a device that is included in the presentation.
The Association for Driver Rehabilitation Specialists (ADED) has approved this program for up to 19.75 contact
hours.
Henry Ford provides, at no cost, qualified interpreters and other aids and services for the deaf and hard of hearing. To
request assistance, call Carolyn Barth at (313) 824-4710 or email cbarth2@hfhs.org. If possible, please notify us three days
in advance of the event.

THE EYE, THE BRAIN, & THE AUTO PLANNING TEAM 2013
David J. Goldman, MD Edward R O’Malley, MD
Assistant Medical Director Physician-in-Charge Henry Ford Medical Center
Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology Cottage & Pierson Clinic
Department of Ophthalmology Department of Ophthalmology
Henry Ford Health System Henry Ford Health System
Detroit, MI Detroit, MI
Philip C Hessburg, MD Cynthia Owsley, PhD

Medical Director Nathan E. Miles Chair
Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology Professor of Ophthalmology
Department of Ophthalmology Vice Chair for Clinical Research
Henry Ford Health System Director of the Clinical Research Unit
Detroit, MI Department of Ophthalmology
School of Medicine
Steve Hung PhD University of Alabama at Birmingham
Principal Consultant Birmingham, AL
Konsept Werks, LLC
Grosse Pointe Farms, MI Joanne Wood, PhD
Professor, Queensland University of Technology
Gerald McGwin, Jr MS PhD School of Optometry and Vision Science
Professor, Vice Chairman Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Department of Epidemiology
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, AL
Carolyn L. Barth, PhD

Coordinator Special Events, Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology World Research Congresses
A division of Department of Ophthalmology, Henry Ford Health System

PROGRAM SCHEDULE
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

(Presentations are 20-minutes long, plus a 10-minute Q & A - Challenge period)
7:00-8:00 Registration, Coffee and Continental Breakfast
8:00-8:15 WELCOME & INTRODUCTION

Philip C. Hessburg, MD
Paul A. Edwards, MD
HOUSEKEEPING ANNOUNCEMENTS
MODERATOR
Edward O’Malley, MD
RISK AND RELIABILITY
8:15-8:45 Using Eyetracking to Better Understand the Differential Crash Risk of Older Adults as
Drivers and Pedestrians
Walter Boot, PhD (Tallahassee, FL)
8:45-9:15 The “ins and outs” of Eye Tracking in Road Safety and Mobility Studies.
For Example: Is it Reliable to Assess Visual Attention of Drivers from the Backseat?
Torbjorn Falkmer, PhD (Perth, Western Australia)
9:15-9:45 What is Risk?

Gerald McGwin, Jr., MS, PhD (Birmingham, AL)
9:45-10:00 COFFEE BREAK
COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT
10:00-10:30 Benchmarking Cognitive Distraction in The Automobile

David Strayer, PhD (Salt Lake City, UT)
10:30-11:00 Cognitive Intervention and Mobility Outcomes in Older Adults

Karlene Ball, PhD (Birmingham, AL)
11:00-11:30 Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Traffic Risks and Criminality

Timo Tervo, MD, PhD (Helsinki, Finland)
11:30-12:00 Screening Driver’s Fatigue: A Parallel Singapore and Hungarian Study

Frederick Tey, PhD (Singapore)
12:00-1:00 LUNCH

PROGRAM SCHEDULE (continued)
1:00-2:00 KEYNOTE LECTURE: “Driverless Cars Coming Soon to a Road Near You?”
Lawrence Burns, PhD (Ann Arbor, MI)
INTRODUCTION BY: Philip C. Hessburg, MD
DISTRACTION
MODERATOR
Joanne Wood, PhD
2:00-2:30 Meta-analysis of Driver Distraction from Text Messaging and

Conversation: Controversies and Evidence
Jeff Caird, PhD (Alberta, Canada)
2.30-3:00 A Continued Investigation into Secondary Task Alternatives: Purely

Speech-Based vs. Combined Speech/Vision Methods
Thomas Schalk, PhD (Irving, TX)
SAFETY
3:15-3:45 Safety Benefits of a Traffic Signal Designed for the Color Deficient
Leonard Evans, D.Phil (Bloomfield Hills, MI) and
Jay Wiseman, M. Photog., A-ASP (Bountiful, UT)
3:45-4:15 The Use of Perceptual Cues to Determine the Intent of Cyclists in Traffic
Paul Hemeren, PhD (Skövde, Sweden)
4:15-4:45 Adaptive Vehicle Lighting, Visual Performance and Safety

John Bullough, PhD FIES (Troy, NY)
6:00-9:00 BARTIMAEUS DINNER
MASTER OF CERMONIES
Edward R. O’Malley, MD
WELCOME
Paul Edwards, MD

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

MODERATOR
David Goldman, MD
VISION IMPAIRMENT AND DRIVING
8:00-8:30 Prevalence of Impairments of Visual Function in Relation to Driving Habits in

European Drivers, Presented on Behalf of The European Glare Project Group, see www.glare.be
L.J. van Rijn, MD, PhD (Amsterdam, Holland)
8:30-9:00 The Impact of Visual Impairment Resulting from Refractive Blur on Driving Performance
Joanne Wood, PhD (Brisbane, Australia)
9:00-9:30 Visual Considerations in Driving Performance Among Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis
Maria Schultheis, PhD (Philadelphia, PA)
VISUAL CHALLENGES
9:45-10:15 Glare’s Causes and Consequences: Perception and Misperceptions

Martin A. Mainster, PhD, MD, FRCOpth (Prairie Village, KS)
10:15-10:45 Misperceptions about Night Vision by Drivers and Pedestrians

Richard A. Tyrrell, PhD (Clemson, SC)
10:45-11:15 Characteristics of On-Road Driving by Persons with Central Vision Loss

Learning to Drive with the Assistance of a Bioptic Telescope
Cynthia Owsley, PhD, MSPH (Birmingham, AL)
11:15-11:45 Can Visually Impaired People Drive Safely with Bioptic Telescopes?
Gang Luo, PhD (Boston, MA)
11:45-12:15 Peripheral Prism Glasses Improve Detection Performance of Drivers with Hemianopia
Alex Bowers, PhD (Boston, MA)
12:15-1:15 LUNCH

1:15-2:15 KEYNOTE LECTURE: Human Machine Interface

Lawrence Smythe, EdD, (Farmington Hills, MI)
INTRODUCTION BY: Steve Hung, PhD
MODERATOR
Cynthia Owsley, PhD
AGING AND DRIVING
2:15-2:45 Steering with Simulated Symptoms of Age-related Macular Degeneration

Margarita Vinnikov, MSC (Toronto, Canada)
3:00-3:30 Frequent Falling and Motor Vehicle Collision Involvement among Older Drivers
Carrie Huisingh, MPH (Birmingham, AL)
3:30-4:00 The Effects of Field Loss and Age on Head Scanning and Detection at Intersections
Eli Peli, M.Sc., OD (Boston, MA)
4:00-4:30 The Influence of Visual Conditions and Impairments on Driving Outcomes: Preliminary Results
from the Candrive Prospective Older Driver Study
Shawn Marshall, MD, MSc, FRCPC (Ottawa, Canada)
4:30-5:00 Has the Time Come for an Older Driver Vehicle?

David Eby, PhD (Ann Arbor, MI)
5:00-7:00 POSTER SESSION AND RECEPTION

HOST: Paul Edwards, MD
HOSTESS: Carolyn L. Barth, PhD
POSTER PRESENTATIONS
Awarenes of Eye Related Disorders Among School Children and Their Teaches in Tripoli, Libya
Amel Mohamed el Bahi, PhD (Tripoli, Libya)
Self-Reported Driving Habits by Persons with Central Vision Loss Who Use Bioptic Telescopes
Jennifer Elgin, MGOT, OTR/L, CDRS (Birmingham, AL)
Driver Fatigue Detection Using a Webcam or a Smartphone

Jibo He, PhD (Wichita, KS)

Effects of Auditory Satellite Navigation Instructions and Visual Blur on Road Hazard Perception
Phillipe Lacherez, PhD (Brisbane, Australia)
Poster Presented by Joanne Wood, PhD (Brisbane, Australia)
Driving Hazard Detection with a Bioptic Telescope

Gang Luo, PhD (Boston, MA)
Reduced Crash Rates in a Population of Older Automobile Insurance Policyholders Using a

Computer-based Visual Training Program
Henry W. Mahncke, PhD (San Francisco, CA)
Open Your Eyes to Driving

Farrell Sheffield, OTR/L, CDRS (Oceanside, CA)
Driver’s Disease and Speeding as a Cause of Fatal Traffic Accidents in Finland

Timo Tervo, MD, PhD Professor (Helsinki, Finland)
Operational Based Vision Assessment: Contrast and Motion Sensitivity

Marc Winterbottom, MS (Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

MODERATOR
Gerald McGwin, Jr., MS, PhD
NATURALISTIC DRIVING
8:00-8:30 Senior Driver Fitness-to-Drive Modeling Using Naturalistic Driving Data

Jon Antin, PhD, CHFP (Blacksburg, VA)
8:30-9:00 Naturalistic Driving, Video Capture and Medical Cars

Matthew Rizzo, MD (Iowa City, IA)
9:00-9:30 Naturalistic Driving in the Candrive Common Cohort Study

Michelle Porter, PhD (Winnipeg, Canada)
9:30-10:00 Road Test and Naturalistic Driving Performance in Healthy and Cognitively Impaired
Older Adults: Does Environment Matter?
Brian Ott, MD (Providence, RI)
TRAINING AND REHABILITATION
10:15-10:45 West Virginia Bioptic Driving Program: Progress Update

Charles P. “Chuck” Huss, MA (Nitro, WV)
10:45-11:15 Driving Rehabilitation in Neurological Diseases of Elderly

Ergun Uc, MD (Iowa City, IA)
11:15-11:45 Useful Visual Field Training: A Way to Improve Elderly Car Drivers’ Ability to Detect
Vulnerable Road Users
Joceline Rogé, PhD (Bron, France)
11:45-12:15 Underlying Mechanisms of Useful Field of View and InSight Visual Speed of Processing Training
Jerri Edwards, PhD (Tampa, FL)
12:15-12:45 Planning Session for 2015 The Eye, The Brain and The Auto
Edward R. O’Malley, MD; Cynthia Owsley, PhD, MSPH; Philip C. Hessburg, MD;
Gerald McGwin, MS, PhD; Joanne Wood, PhD, David Goldman, MD
12:45-1:00 2013 CLOSING REMARKS AND ADJOURN

THE EYE, THE BRAIN AND THE AUTO SPEAKER LIST
(in alphabetical order)
Antin , Jonathan F., Ph.D., CHFP Caird, Jeff, MSc, PhD

Director, Center for Vulnerable Road User Safety Department of Psychology
Virginia Tech Transportation Institute University of Calgary
Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA 2500 University Drive N.W.
jantin@vtti.vt.edu Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
jkcaird@ucalgary.ca
Ball, Karlene, PhD
University Professor, Endowed Professor of Eby, David, PhD
Developmental Psychology Research Professor
& Chair of the Department of Psychology Head, Behavioral Sciences Group
University of Alabama at Birmingham University of Michigan Transportation
Director of the UAB Roybal Center for Research Institute
Translational Research on Aging and Mobility, Ann Arbor, MI USA 48109
& Associate Director eby@umich.edu
Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging
415 Campbell Hall Edwards, Jerri, PhD
Birmingham, AL 35294 School of Aging Studies
kball@uab.edu University of South Florida
Tampa, FL USA 33620
Boot, Walter, PhD
Assistant Professor Evans, Leonard, D.Phil
Florida State University President, Science Serving Society
Department of Psychology 973 Satterlee Road
1107 West Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
boot@psy.fsu.edu LE@ScienceServingSociety.com
Bowers, Alex, PhD Falkmer, Torbjörn, PhD

Schepens Eye Research Institute Professor, School of Occupational Therapy and
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Social Work, Faculty of Health Sciences Curtin University
Department of Ophthalmology Perth, Western Australia 6845
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02114 T.Falkmer@curtin.edu.au
alex_bowers@meei.harvard.edu
Hemeren, Paul, PhD
Bullough, John D., PhD, FIES Department of Cognitive Neuroscience
Senior Research Scientist University of Skövde
Lighting Research Center 5128 Skövde, Sweden
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Paul.hemeren@his.se
Troy, NY, USA 12180
bulloj@rpi.edu Huisingh, Carrie, MPH
Clinical Research Unit, Department of Ophthalmology,
Burns, Lawrence D., PhD School of Medicine
University of Michigan, Professor of Engineering Practice University of Alabama at Birmingham
31675 Lela Lane Birmingham, AL USA 35294
Franklin, MI 48025 huisingh@uab.edu
lawrencedburns@gmail.com

THE EYE, THE BRAIN AND THE AUTO SPEAKER LIST (continued)
Huss, Charles P. “Chuck”, MA: EDU Owsley, Cynthia, PhD, MSPH

WV Division of Rehabilitation Services Department of Ophthalmology
10 McJunkin Road School of Medicine
Nitro, WV, USA, 25143 University of Alabama at Birmingham,
Chuck.p.huss@wv.gov Birmingham, AL 35294
Owsley@uab.edu
Gang Luo, PhD
Schepens Eye Research Institute Peli, Eli, MSc, OD
Harvard Medical School Schepens Eye Research Institute,
Boston, MA USA 02114 Mass Eye & Ear, Harvard Medical School
gang.luo@schpenes.harvard.edu Boston MA USA 02114
eli_peli@meei.harvard.edu
McGwin, Jr., Gerald, MS, PhD
Professor and Vice Chairman Porter, Michelle, PhD
University of Alabama at Birmingham Professor, B.P.E. Program
609 Eye Foundation Hospital University of Manitoba
1922 5th Avenue, Suite 120 207 MaxBell Centre
Birmingham, AL 35294 Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management
mcgwin@uab.edu Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2
Michelle.porter@ad.umanitoba.ca
Mainster, Martin, PhD, MD, FRCOphth
Luther & Ardis Fry Professor Emeritus of Ophthalmology Rizzo, Matthew, MD
Department of Ophthalmology Professor of Neurology
University of Kansas School of Medicine University of Iowa
Prairie Village, Kansas, USA 66208 200 Hawkins Drive
Iowa City, IA 52242
Marshall, Shawn, MD, MSc, FRCPC Matthew-rizzo@uiowa.edu
Associate Professor
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute/Candrive Rogé, Joceline, PhD
The Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Center Laboratoire Ergonomie et Sciences Cognitives
Ottawa, ON Canada K1H 8M2 pour les Transports (LESCOT)
smarshall@toh.on.ca Institut Français des Sciences et Technologies
des Transports, de l’Aménagement et des
Ott, Brian R. MD Réseaux (IFSTTAR)
Professor, Department of Neurology, 25 avenue François Mitterrand
Alpert Medical School of Brown University 69675 Bron Cedex – France
Director, Alzheimer’s Disease & Memory joceline.roge@ifsttar
Disorders Center
Rhode Island Hospital Schalk, Thomas, PhD
593 Eddy St. Vice-President, Agero Voice Technology
Providence, RI 02903 8550 Freeport Parkway
Irving TX 75063
tschalk@agero.com

THE EYE, THE BRAIN AND THE AUTO SPEAKER LIST (continued)
Schultheis, Maria, PhD Uc, Ergun, MD

Associate Professor Department of Neurology
Director of Clinical Training University of Iowa
Department of Psychology Carver College of Medicine
Drexel University & Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Philadelphia, PA 19104 Iowa City, IA USA 52242
schultheis@drexel.edu ergun-uc@uiowa.edu
Smythe, Lawrence, EdD van Rijn, LJ, MD, PhD

Human Engineering: Principal Engineer Department of Ophthalmology
Nissan Technical Center N.A. VU University Medical Center
39001 Sunrise Drive PO Box 7057
Farmington Hills MI 48331 1007 MB Amsterdam
smythel@nrd.nissan-usa.com The Netherlands
Strayer, David, Ph.D. Vinnikov, Margarita, MSC

University of Utah Department of Electrical Engineering and
Department of Psychology Computer Science,
380 S. 1530 E. RM 502 York University, Toronto, Ontario,
Salt Lake City, UT 84112 Canada, M3J 1P3
David.Strayer@utah.edu mvinni@cse.yorku.ca
Tervo, Timo, MD, PhD Wood, Joanne, PhD

Department of Ophthalmology Professor, School of Optometry and Vision Science and
Helsinki University Eye Hospital Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation
Helsinki, Finland 00029 HUS P.O. Box 220 Queensland University of Technology
timo.tervo@hus.fi Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane,
Queensland Q 4059
Tey, Lian Kheng Frederick, PhD j.wood@qut.edu.au
DSO National Laboratories
27 Medical Dr. #09-01
Singapore, 117510
tliankhe@dso.org.sg
Tyrrell, Richard A., PhD

Department of Psychology
Clemson University
Clemson, SC 29634-1355
Tyrrell@Clemson.edu

SPEAKERS AND ABSTRACTS
Jonathan F. Antin, Ph.D., CHFP
Director, Center for Vulnerable Road User Safety
Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
Senior Driver Fitness-to-Drive Modeling

Using Naturalistic Driving Data
Objectives: Fitness to drive assessment for seniors has long been a topic of concern for family members, physicians,
DMVs, and society at large. The goal is to devise a brief, easy-to-administer and score, and replicable set of assessments
of functional ability which could reliably be used to predict on-road driving performance and safety outcomes. With
regular implementation of such a tool most seniors would have increased confidence when they find that they are fine to
continue driving. Others could be guided to countermeasures aimed at helping them drive longer safely by addressing the
specific functional problems presented. Such countermeasures might include self or legally imposed driving restrictions,
the application of in-vehicle safety technologies, or a change in medications. When necessary, the last resort is driving
cessation. The current study represents the first known attempt to relate fitness to drive assessments with on-road safety
outcomes using naturalistic driving data.
Methods: Data for this analysis were collected during a pilot naturalistic driving study (NDS) of 20 senior drivers. At the
outset of that study participants were administered an extensive battery of functional assessments. In addition, a cohort
of seniors who had recently ceased driving were also administered the same battery of assessments (Antin, Lockhart,
Stanley, and Guo, Safety Science 2012). In the current study, we were interested in evaluating the relationship between
seniors’ fitness assessment profiles and their driving risk, represented primarily by crash and near-crash (CNC) rate,
and secondarily by the less safety-critical high g-force (HGF) event rate. Due to the relatively small sample size in this
pilot investigation (20 primary drivers), principal component analysis was extensively used for dimension reduction and
classification of the 60 total fitness profile metrics. Because of the variance over-dispersion issues, negative binomial (NB)
regression models were employed to model the CNC and HGF events.
Results: Despite the relatively small sample size, we found that contrast sensitivity measures were strongly associated
with CNC rate: the greater the sensitivity, the lower the CNC rate. In the HGF event analysis, we found that CNC rate was
positively related to HGF rate. Moreover, contrast sensitivity was also related to HGF event rate in the expected direction.
In addition, two metrics related to metacognition (insight into one’s own cognitive status) were also associated with HGF
event rate. In particular, greater HGF rates were associated with greater self-rating of cognitive status as well as greater
disparities between that same self-rating and an objective metric of cognitive status.
Conclusions and Future Work: This study showed that certain fitness-to-drive assessments in the functional areas of
perception and metacognition can be reliably related to specific safety-related performance outcomes measured using
the NDS paradigm. Future work can seek to utilize the far larger naturalistic data stores associated with the SHRP 2 NDS
(including 700+ senior participants) and other similar studies to further refine and validate these findings.
Funding Sources: National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence
Biography: Jon Antin, PhD, CHFP is a Human Factors Research Scientist and Director of the Center for Vulnerable Road
User Safety at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. Dr. Antin earned his B.S. in Psychology at L.S.U. He then studied in
the Vehicle Analysis and Simulation Laboratory at Virginia Tech where he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial
Engineering and Operations Research (Human Factors Option. Dr. Antin currently plays a leading role in several senior
driver safety projects emphasizing fitness to drive modeling, intersection-related behavior, and senior driver training, as
well as ongoing naturalistic driving study (NDS) efforts, including SHRP 2.

SPEAKERS AND ABSTRACTS (continued)
Karlene Ball PhD

University Professor, Endowed Professor of Developmental Psychology
& Chair of the Department of Psychology
Director of the UAB Roybal Center for Translational Research on Aging and
Mobility, & Associate Director
Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging
415 Campbell Hall, Birmingham, AL 35294
Cognitive Interventions and Mobility Outcomes in Older Adults

Objective: Physical, visual and cognitive function are all related to successful aging, quality of life, and independence in
older age. Several lines of research will be presented, using two large randomized controlled trials, investigating the long-
term impact of interventions on sustaining cognitive function and driving competence in older adults.
Methods/Design: The ACTIVE clinical trial recruited a volunteer sample of 2,832 older adults between the ages of 65 and 94
years beginning in March 1998. This study evaluated the impact of three interventions targeting improved cognitive ability,
as well as improved everyday function. Participants were randomly assigned to speed of processing training, reasoning
training, memory training, or a control group. Follow-up data have been collected thus far through the tenth annual follow-
up. A second study recruited volunteers from a pool of 109,184 Alabama drivers insured by State Farm who were aged 75 or
older. Functional assessments, as well as speed of processing training were explored in this study.
Results: Data analysis is currently ongoing with respect to crash records from multiple states, and other markers of
sustained mobility. Analysis is focused on 1) whether the amount of training received is related to driving competence and
a decrease in driving cessation, 2) whether the amount of training received slows trajectories of decline in key indices of
independence.
Conclusion: This study represents the first look at outcomes from a large randomized clinical trial on driving outcomes over
a long follow-up period (10 years). Results can potentially inform whether the impact of cognitive training is long-term, and
how much training is needed in order to sustain cognitive function and independence in older age.
Biography: Karlene Ball, PhD, is a University Professor, Endowed Professor of Developmental Psychology and Chair of the
Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is also the Director of the UAB Roybal Center
for Translational Research on Aging and Mobility, and Associate Director, Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging. Dr.
Ball is widely published, and recognized internationally as an expert in the field of vision, aging, and cognitive function.
She is particularly known for her work with older drivers and cognitive interventions. Her research is funded primarily
through the NIH, and she collaborates widely with automobile insurance companies, Departments of Motor Vehicles, and
other organizations with interests in driving assessment and/or cognitive training to maintain driving competence. She has
served on numerous committees for the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council and recently
chaired the Committee for the Safe Mobility of Older Persons.

Walter Boot, PhD

Assistant Professor
Florida State University
1107 West Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306
Using Eye Tracking to Better Understand the Differential

Crash Risk of Older Adults as Drivers and Pedestrians
Walter R. Boot, Neil Charness, Cary Stothart, Mark Fox (all authors from Florida State University)
Objectives: Older adults are at differential risk for serious injury and death as pedestrians and drivers. While some of this
increased risk is the result of age-related increases in frailty, declining perceptual and cognitive abilities also play a role
in their being overrepresented in certain types of crashes. That is, age-related changes result in a mismatch between the
abilities of the road-user and the demands of the navigation task. Specifically challenging situations include making left
turns as a driver and navigating parking lots as a pedestrian. We will present research, funded by the Florida Department
of Transportation in support of their aging road user program, “Safe Mobility for Life”, that has used mobile eye tracking to
better understand the factors that contribute to the crash risk of aging road users.
Methods or Design: Presented studies will include one field study and one simulator study that have used mobile eye
tracking to characterize the allocation of attention of younger, middle-aged, and older drivers and pedestrians. An analysis
of crash records in the state of Florida revealed that older adult pedestrians were more likely to be involved in crashes
in parking lots involving a vehicle backing up. We designed a field study in which middle-aged and older participants
navigated an active parking lot while their eye movements were recorded to examine for differences in attentional
allocation that might explain increased risk of back-out crashes. This study also included an unexpected back-out event.
Another study involved examining driver crash risk during left turns and the effectiveness of left-turn offsets at reducing
the risk of younger, middle-aged, and older drivers. This study involved participants making a series of left-turns in a
simulator while eye movements were recorded.
Results: Analysis of left-turn data is ongoing, but eye movement data in the parking lot study revealed nearly identical
attentional allocation in younger and older adults, suggesting that scanning strategy does not play a major role in
increased risk of older pedestrians. Older pedestrians also reacted as quickly, in terms of eye fixations, to the surprise
back-out event compared to middle-aged pedestrians.
Conclusions: Eye movement data can reveal scanning strategies and the allocation of attention during safety critical tasks
such as navigating a busy parking lot as a pedestrian, or a challenging turn as a driver. Eye movement data, as in the case
of the parking lot study, can rule out explanations for why older adults are at greater risk and help suggest new research
avenues to pursue. The benefits of eye tracking data to understanding crash risk will be further discussed, in addition to
data processing and methodological challenges of conducting eye tracking studies outside of the laboratory.
Funding Sources: Florida Department of Transportation
Biography: Walter Boot,PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at FSU. His research on aging
and transportation has been supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging and the Florida
Department of Transportation. He has authored or co-authored over 42 publications on a variety of topics including visual
perception, eye movement control, cognitive aging, training, and human factors.

Alex Bowers, PhD

Schepens Eye Research Institute,
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Department of Ophthalmology
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02114
Peripheral Prism Glasses Improve Detection

Performance of Drivers with Hemianopia
Purpose: Homonymous hemianopia, the loss of the same half of the visual field in both eyes due to brain injury (e.g., after
a stroke), causes difficulties in detecting objects on the non-seeing (blind) side that may compromise safe driving. Oblique
peripheral-prism glasses use high power prism segments embedded in a regular spectacle lens to provide constant visual
field expansion (of 20° or 30°) in areas of the visual field relevant to driving. We have evaluated whether the oblique prisms
improve detection of unexpected blind side hazards in a pilot open-road study and approaching pedestrian hazards in the
more controlled environment of a driving simulator.
Methods: Participants had complete homonymous hemianopia with neither visual neglect nor significant cognitive decline.
In the on-road study 12 participants (median 49 years, range 29–68) completed a 45-minute test drive along busy city
streets in Ghent, Belgium, with sham oblique (2°) and real oblique (20°) prism glasses in counterbalanced order. A masked
evaluator rated driving skills and responses to unexpected hazards. In the ongoing driving simulator study, oblique (30°)
prism glasses are being evaluated. Participants press the horn whenever they detect an approaching pedestrian walking
or running toward the road as if to cross the travel lane. Detection rates and response times are analyzed for 52 pedestrian
events (about 1 hour of driving).
Results: In the pilot on-road study, the proportion of satisfactory responses to unexpected hazards on the blind side was
higher when driving with real than sham prisms (80% vs. 30%; p = 0.001), but similar for unexpected hazards on the seeing
side. Preliminary results (n = 9) from the driving simulator study suggest that detection rates for blindside pedestrian
hazards are better with than without the prism glasses (89% vs. 62%, p = 0.01), but still lower than seeing side detection
rates (100%, p = 0.01). Furthermore, the proportion of timely reactions to blindside pedestrians (would have been able
to stop in time) is higher with than without the prism glasses (65% vs. 35%, p = 0.01), but still lower than to seeing side
pedestrians (96%, p = 0.01).
Conclusions: Taken together, the results of these studies suggest that oblique peripheral-prism glasses may improve
responses of people with hemianopia to blindside hazards when driving.
Funding: NIH grants EY12890 and EY018680, and DoD grant DMRDP DM090420
Biography: Alex Bowers is an Optometrist with a PhD in Vision Rehabilitation from Glasgow Caledonian University,
Scotland. She completed post-doctoral training in Dr Peli’s lab at Schepens Eye Research Institute and is currently
an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. She was the 2010 recipient of the Irvin and Beatrice Borish Young
Investigator Award from the American Academy of Optometry. Her current research interests include: evaluating the
effects of vision impairment on driving skills and behaviors; investigating the relationship between driving performance and
novel tests of vision and attention to determine which tests have the greatest potential for identifying at-risk drivers; and
evaluating the benefits of optical devices to assist visually impaired people when driving and walking.

John D. Bullough, Ph.D., FIES

Lighting Research Center
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY, USA 12180
Adaptive Vehicle Lighting, Visual Performance and Safety

Purpose: Present standards for vehicle forward lighting specify two headlamp beam patterns: a low beam when driving
in the presence of other nearby vehicles, and a high beam when there is not a concern for producing glare to other
drivers. Adaptive lighting technologies such as curve lighting systems with steerable headlamps may be related to
increments in safety according to the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety,
but isolating the effects of lighting is difficult. Recent analyses (Bullough, Intl. Symp. Auto. Lighting, 2013) suggest that
visibility improvements from adaptive curve lighting systems might reduce nighttime crashes along curves by 2%-3%. More
advanced systems such as adaptive high-beam systems that reduce high-beam headlamp intensity toward oncoming
drivers are not presently allowed in the U.S. The purpose of the present study is to analyze visual performance benefits and
quantify potential safety benefits from adaptive high-beam headlamp systems.
Methods: The basis for the present analyses is the relative visual performance (RVP) model, which has been recently
shown to be strongly correlated with nighttime crash reductions associated with roadway intersection lighting (Bullough
et al., Accid. Anal. Prev., 2013). In ongoing data analyses, the ability of drivers varying in age to respond quickly and
accurately to visual information is assessed under conventional and adaptive lighting conditions, taking into account both
forward visibility and disability glare from oncoming headlamps.
Results: Using the provisional transfer function relating visual performance increments to nighttime safety improvements
(Bullough et al., 2013), preliminary estimates of safety impacts of adaptive high-beam systems will be developed and
presented. Impacts of lighting system performance on drivers varying in age will also be described.
Conclusions: Before adaptive high-beam systems could be permitted on U.S. roadways, it is necessary to have data
describing their potential for crash reductions. The results from the present analyses can help to inform discussion about
the potential impacts of adaptive high-beam systems on transportation safety.
Funding Sources: Transportation Lighting Alliance (TLA: Audi, Automotive Lighting, Hella, OSRAM SYLVANIA, Philips
Lighting, Varroc Lighting).
Biography: John D. Bullough, PhD, FIES is a Senior Research Scientist and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Lighting
Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He received his PhD in Multidisciplinary Science from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute. At the Lighting Research Center, Dr. Bullough coordinates the Transportation Lighting and Safety
program. He has served as principal investigator on projects for organizations such as the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Institute of Occupational
Safety and Health, and the New York State and New Jersey Departments of Transportation. Dr. Bullough is a Fellow of the
Illuminating Engineering Society and chairs the Committee on Visibility of the Transportation Research Board. He is also
a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and the International Municipal Signal Association. Dr. Bullough has
authored or co-authored more than 300 publications including more than 60 with students.

Lawrence D. Burns, PhD

Professor of Engineering Practice
University of Michigan
31675 Lela Lane
Franklin, MI 48025
“Driverless Cars: Coming Soon to a Road Near You?”

Abstract: The growth of roadway transportation has occurred without disruptive change to the vehicle conceived of
by Karl Benz and popularized by Henry Ford a century ago. While this mobility system provides considerable personal
freedom and enables substantial economic activity, it has serious side effects in terms of safety, energy, the environment,
land use, traffic congestion, time use and equality of access.
It is now possible to supply better mobility experiences at radically lower cost to consumers and society. This opportunity
results from combining driverless vehicles (i.e., cars that move without human control) with connected, coordinated,
shared and tailored vehicles to create a spontaneous, responsive and sustainable mobility system.
This presentation will describe the mobility opportunities now within our grasp and highlight what must be done to realize
what is possible. It will address the following questions:
s !REDRIVERLESSVEHICLESREAL)FSOWHEN
s (OWMIGHTDRIVERLESSCONNECTEDCOORDINATEDANDSHAREDVEHICLESIMPACTOURLIVES
s 7HATTYPESOFMOBILITYBUSINESSMODELSWILLEXISTINTHEFUTURE7ILLCOMPANIESBESELLINGAUTOMOBILESGASOLINEAND
insurance directly to consumers like today or will they be selling miles, trips and experiences?
s (OWMIGHTVEHICLEDESIGNSCHANGEASARESULTOFDRIVERLESSVEHICLES
s (OWMIGHTTRANSPORTATIONCHANGEINPLACESLIKE!NN!RBORAND-ANHATTAN
Biography: Larry Burns is Professor of Engineering Practice at the University of Michigan, a Senior Advisor to the
Chairman of Hess Corporation, a consultant to Google Inc, and an advisor to several investment firms. From January
2010 to June 2013, he was also Director of the Program for Sustainable Mobility at Columbia University. Burns served
as General Motors Corporate Vice President of Research & Development and Planning/Strategic Planning from 1998-
2009. At GM he was a member of corporate decision boards for global operations and products and was responsible
for advanced technology development, product portfolio planning, capacity planning and strategic planning. Burns is a
leading advocate for design and technology innovation focused on the total customer experience, and has long served as
a major voice for the “reinvention of the automobile” and the diversification of transportation energy. He has championed
vehicle electrification, “connected & driverless” vehicles, fuel cells, advanced batteries, bio-fuels, and innovative concept
vehicles. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and has made over 500 keynote, conference
and media presentations since 1998. Burns is co-author of Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the
21st Century (MIT Press, January, 2010). He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, a MS in
Engineering / Public Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, from the General
Motors Institute (now Kettering University).

Jeff K. Caird, PhD

University of Calgary
2500 University Drive N.W.
Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
Meta-Analysis of Driver Distraction from Text Messaging

and Conversation: Controversies and Evidence
Purpose: Whether or not conversation affects driving performance is a contentious issue. In contrast, few would argue
that typing text messages while driving does not compromise driver safety. The effects of cell phone conversation and text
messaging on driver performance is examined in depth using meta-analytic methods. A previous meta-analysis on cell
phones and driving is updated with an additional 36 studies (i.e., Caird, Willness, Scialfa & Steel, 2008).
Methods: A number of databases including Medline, PubMed, SafetyLit, and PsychINFO were searched for cell phone,
texting and driving studies irrespective of year of publication and source (e.g., technical report, proceedings, abstracts).
A variety of backtracking and cross referencing methods were also used. Certain authors were contacted for additional
statistical and methodological details.
Results: A total of 18 texting and driving studies and 69 cell phone and driving studies met the inclusion criteria. Effect
sizes for the dependent variables of reaction time, lateral and longitudinal control, eye movements, hazard detection and
subjective workload were coded. A number of moderator variables such as reading versus typing a text message, driver
age, and laboratory, simulation versus on-road studies were also coded and analyzed.
Conclusions: Typing a text message while driving produced large effect sizes in most dependent variables, whereas
reading a text message produced smaller effect sizes. Conversation on a cell phone predominately affected reaction time
and to a lesser extent speed, which may be indicative of compensation. Precise variable definitions, insufficient statistical
reporting and lack of experimental design detail in reviewed studies limited data extraction, coding and analysis.
Acknowledgements: Chelsea Willness, Kate Johnston, Chip Scialfa, Piers Steel and Mark Asbridge were integral to the
effort required to produce the results reported here. The AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE) funded these
studies.
Biography: Dr. Jeff Caird is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and an Adjunct Professor in the Departments of
Anesthesia and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. He received his Ph.D. in human factors from the
University of Minnesota in 1994 and an MS from the University of Colorado. He is the Director of the Cognitive Ergonomics
Research Laboratory and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) funded University of Calgary Driving Simulator
(UCDS). He also directs the Healthcare Human Factors and Simulation Laboratory in the Ward of the 21st Century’s
Research and Innovation Centre. As part of the AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE), he is the co-leader of
the Convergent Evidence from Naturalistic, Simulation and Epidemiology Data (CENSED) Network, which examines teen
and novice driver and distraction issues. He has co-edited a number of books on human-machine systems, including the
Handbook of Driving Simulation for Engineering, Medicine and Psychology. He was awarded a Killam Fellowship to study
traffic safety and the Faculty of Social Sciences Distinguished Researcher Award. He is a member of a number of national
and international transportation and health care committees in Canada and the U.S. His broad areas of research are in
transportation and health care human factors. Examples of recent projects include evidence-based design of ambulances
and health care facilities, the effects of interruptions on clinical procedural performance and the transfer of video game
experiences to simulated and everyday driving.

David W. Eby PhD

Research Professor
Head, Behavioral Sciences Group
University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute
Ann Arbor, MI USA 48109
Has The Time Come For An Older Driver Vehicle?

Purpose: The population of the world is growing older. As people grow older they are more likely to experience declines
that can make operating a personal automobile more difficult. Once driving abilities begin to decline, older adults are often
faced with decreased mobility. Due to the preference for and pervasiveness of the personal automobile for satisfying
mobility needs, there is a global necessity to keep older adults driving for as long as they can safely do so. In this study
we explored the question: Has the time come for an older driver vehicle? Great gains in safe mobility could be made by
designing automobiles that take into account, and help overcome, some of the deficits in abilities common in older people
Methods: A detailed synthesis of the literature and a series of interviews with automobile manufacturers were conducted.
Themes from the following topics were synthesized: background and rationale for an older driver vehicle, including the
relevant trends, age-related declines in functional abilities, and the adverse consequences of decreased mobility; research
and issues related to vehicle design and advanced technology with respect to older drivers; crashworthiness issues and the
unique requirements for older adults; and issues related to marketing a vehicle that has been designed for older drivers.
Conclusions: The study concluded that there is a clear global opportunity to improve the safety, mobility, and quality
of life of older adults by designing vehicles and vehicle technologies that help overcome common age-related deficits.
The marketing of these vehicles to older consumers, however, will be challenging and will likely require further market
research. The development of vehicle design features, new automotive technologies, and crashworthiness systems in the
future should be guided by both knowledge of the effects of frailty/fragility of the elderly on crash outcomes, as well as
knowledge of common driving-related declines in psychomotor, visual, and cognitive abilities. Design strategies that allow
for some degree of customization may be particularly beneficial. It is clear that training and education efforts for using
new vehicle features will need to be improved.
Funding Source: University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute Sustainable Worldwide Transportation (http://
www.umich.edu/~umtriswt).
Biography: Dr. Eby is a Research Professor and Head of the Behavioral Sciences Group of UMTRI where he has been
working for 20 years. He holds a doctorate degree in experimental psychology from the University of California, Santa
Barbara. He has also held a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California,
Irvine. While at UMTRI, Dr. Eby’s research has focused on reducing the number of deaths and injuries associated with
motor-vehicle crashes by conducting behavioral research that improves the safety of automobile transportation. An
important component of this work has been to improve the safety and mobility of older drivers. Dr. Eby is a former convener
for the Transportation and Aging Interest Group of Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and is a fellow of GSA. Dr. Eby
is the lead author of a book called Maintaining Safe Mobility in an Aging Society. He is an Associate Editor of the journal
Accident Analysis and Prevention and is the former Director of the Michigan Center for Advancing Safe Transportation
throughout the Lifespan (M-CASTL), a University Transportation Center that was sponsored by the US Department of
Transportation and has a focus on both young and older adult users of the transportation system. Dr. Eby’s aging and
mobility research has been sponsored by a number of organizations including: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, AARP,
Alzheimer’s Association, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Federal Highway Administration, General Motors,
Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, Michigan Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, and Transportation Research Board.

Jerri D. Edwards, PhD

School of Aging Studies
University of South Florida
Tampa, FL USA 33620
Underlying Mechanisms of Useful Field of View and

InSight Visual Speed of Processing Training
Purpose: The Useful Field of View Test (UFOV) is a valuable tool to examine cognitive speed of processing for visual attention
tasks (e.g., Edwards et al. 2005; 2006). UFOV is an excellent predictor of older adults’ driving mobility and safety (e.g., Ball
et al., 2006; Clay et al., 2005; Owsley et al., 1998). Interestingly, UFOV performance can be enhanced by cognitive speed of
processing training, which results in far transfer to improved Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) performance
(Edwards et al., 2002; 2005), including reduced crash involvement (Ball et al., 2010) and improved on-road driving performance
(Roenker et al., 2003). However, the underlying mechanisms of UFOV performance, cognitive speed of processing training
gains, and the far transfer of such gains are not known. Three studies were conducted to examine these issues.
Methods: For study 1, we examined the underlying neural correlates of UFOV performance. Older adults’ (N=33) UFOV
performance was assessed and ERPs were recorded while participants completed a visual oddball task. In study 2, the
underlying neural correlates of training gains were examined. Older adults completed the visual oddball ERP task pre- and
post- randomization to either InSight cognitive speed of processing training (n=11) or a no contact control condition (n=11).
For study 3, mediators of the transfer of training to improved IADL performance were examined among a sample of 126
older adults to identify potential mechanisms of training far transfer.
Results: In study 1, correlational analyses indicated that participants with better UFOV scores on the divided attention
and selective attention subtests had shorter P3b latencies, rs(31)=.395-.411, ps<.05. In study 2, ANOVA revealed that
the amplitudes of the P3b and N2pc waves increased from pre- to post- training (ps < .03), reflecting enhancement of
the allocation and capacity of attention. In study 3, results indicated that speed of processing for a divided attention
task (UFOV subtest 2) significantly mediated the transfer of training to IADL performance in a multiple mediation model
accounting for 91% of the variance (point estimate ab of 0.26; CI 95% 0.07-0.63).
Conclusion: These findings suggest that everyday functional improvements found from cognitive speed of processing
training are directly attributable to improved UFOV performance, speed of processing for divided attention in particular.
Similarly, allocation of neural resources are enhanced subsequent to training. The results of these studies will be
synthesized and discussed in relation to the field of cognitive interventions for enhancing older adults’ driving performance.
Biography: Jerri D. Edwards, Ph.D. - Dr. Edwards (http://agingstudies.cbcs.usf.edu/faculty/jedwards.cfm) completed

her Master’s degree in Experimental Psychology and her doctoral degree in Developmental Psychology. She completed
post-doctoral training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Center for Research on Applied Gerontology with Dr.
Karlene Ball. She is an Associate Professor in the University of South Florida, School of Aging Studies and is the Director
of the Cognitive Aging Lab (http://agingstudies.cbcs.usf.edu/brainfitness/). Dr. Edwards’ research is aimed toward
discovering how cognitive abilities can be maintained and even enhanced with advancing age. Ultimately, the goals of Dr.
Edwards’ research are to extend the driving mobility and independence of older adults thereby improving their quality of
life. Much of her work has focused upon assessing driving fitness among older adults and cognitive training strategies to
remediate cognitive decline that results in driving difficulties. Most recently, Dr. Edwards served as Principal Investigator
of a National Institutes of Health R21 grant to examine the efficacy of cognitive training among persons with Parkinson’s

disease. She was also Principal Investigator of a longitudinal randomized trial among 850 older adults demonstrating that
cognitive training prolongs driving mobility. In addition, she has successfully executed several large, multi-site studies
in vision and aging, including FDA phase I and II clinical trials. Dr. Edwards serves on the editorial board of the Journals
of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences. She has also served as Vice Chair of the National Academies Transportation
Research Board Safe Mobility for Older Persons Committee, on the NIH Cognition and Perception Study Section, and on
the expert panel at the 2013 Stanford University Consensus Meeting on Brain Health.

Leonard Evans, D.Phil.

President, Science Serving Society
973 Satterlee Rd.
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
USA
Safety Benefits of a Traffic Signal Designed for the Color Deficient

Leonard Evans and Jay Wiseman
Background: Color deficiency in discriminating between red and green (color blindness) afflicts about 8% of American
males and 0.4% of females. Red for stop and green for go in traffic lights disadvantages the color-blind population. One
of the authors (Wiseman) has patented a novel traffic light design aimed at mitigating this disadvantage by associating
geometrical shapes with each color. Laboratory tests showed that color-blind subjects reacted about 140 ms sooner to
this design.
Purpose: This study was to estimate changes in crash risk that result from changes in reaction time (this seems not to have
been done before).
Methods: The approach is analytical. Consider first a driver approaching the novel signal which turns red allowing a stop
just in front of the stop line. Now consider the driver approaching the traditional light but required to have identical safety,
which is achieved by reducing approach speed. Equations in the literature relating changes in crash risk to changes in
speed yield the required relationships between changes crash risk and in reaction time.
Results: Changes in speed for a variety of initial speeds and reaction-time changes are calculated. The largest risk
reductions are for fatality risk because fatality risk increases so steeply with speed. In general, the novel traffic signal
generates about a 7% reduction in fatality risk for the color blind.
Conclusions: A novel traffic signal is shown to reduce the disadvantage suffered by well over 10 million Americans
handicapped by color blindness. The Americans With Disability Act (ADA) has produced many expensive
countermeasures that provide far smaller benefits to far fewer people. The ADA should include color blindness as a
disability and recognize the benefits of geometrical as well as color coding of traffic signal lights to this population, and to
the total population.
Biography: Leonard Evans is an internationally renowned traffic safety expert. His degrees include a doctorate in physics
from Oxford University, England. He has presented traffic-safety lectures, including 22 Keynote Addresses, in 30 countries.
His 190 publications include Traffic Safety (2004) and his distinctly different Traffic Safety and the Driver (1991). Traffic
Safety is used in more than 50 countries. It is a college course text including many US universities. Dr Evans’ research
has received awards from the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the
International Traffic Medicine Association (ITMA), the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM),
the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), the International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine, the
Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and General Motors (GM). He has been president of ITMA and AAAM, the only
individual to have headed both organizations. He is president of Science Serving Society, a one-man organization he
formed in 2000 to continue research and other professional activities after completing a 33-year research career with
GM. Dr. Evans was a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer (2001-2), and recipient of the SAE’s Lloyd L. Withrow Distinguished
Speaker Award (2005, and also 2006). He is a fellow of the SAE, a fellow of HFES, a fellow of the AAAM, President Emeritus
of the ITMA, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Torbjörn Falkmer, PhD

Professor, Senior Research Fellow
School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work
Curtin University
Perth, Western Australia
The ‘Ins and Outs’ of Eye Tracking in Road Safety and Mobility
Studies; For Example: Is It Reliable to Assess Visual Attention of
Drivers from the Backseat?
Background/aim: Commonly, assessors assess drivers’ visual attention while sitting in the back seat on the opposite side
of the driver. Since the eyes of the driver are not always visible, assessment by eye contact becomes problematic. Such
procedural drawbacks may challenge validity and reliability of the visual attention assessments. In terms of correctly
classified attention, the aim of the study was to establish the accuracy and the inter-rater reliability of driving assessments
of visual attention from the back seat. Furthermore, by establishing eye contact between the assessor and the driver
through an additional mirror on the wind screen, the present study aimed to establish how much such an intervention
would enhance the accuracy of the visual attention assessment.
Methods: Two drivers with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and six control drivers drove a fixed route in a driving simulator
while wearing a head-mounted eye tracker. The eye tracker data showed where the foveal visual attention actually was
directed. These data were time stamped and compared with the simultaneous manual scoring of the visual attention of
the drivers. In four of the drivers, one with Parkinson’s disease, a mirror on the windscreen was set up to arrange for eye
contact between the driver and the assessor. Inter-rater reliability was performed with one of the Parkinson drivers driving,
but without the mirror.
Results: Without mirror, the overall accuracy was 56% when assessing the three control drivers and with mirror 83%.
However, for the PD driver without mirror the accuracy was 94%, whereas for the PD driver with a mirror the accuracy
was 90%. With respect to the inter-rater reliability, a 73% agreement was found.
Conclusion: If the final outcome of a driving assessment is dependent on the subcategory of a protocol assessing visual
attention, we suggest the use of an additional mirror to establish eye contact between the assessor and the driver. The
clinicians’ observations on-road should not be a standalone assessment in driving assessments. Instead, eye trackers
should be employed for further analyses and correlation in cases where there is doubt about a driver’s attention.
Key words: Cognitive deficits; Driver assessment, Eye contact, Eye tracking, Fixations, Foveation, Occupational Therapy,
Rear view mirror,
Biography: Torbjorn Falkmer, PhD in Medicine, is Professor and Senior Research Fellow at School of Occupational
Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, (100%), A/Prof. Rehabilitation Medicine Linkoping University (5%), Professor
Occupational Therapy Jonkoping University (5%) and Adjunct Prof. Occupational Therapy La Trobe University. In
2009 Falkmer was part of a consortium that secured International Competitive Funding through the EU funded project
SafeWay2School with a total budget of 38 million Euro ($46 millon) over 3 years. Falkmer was appointed Evaluation
Manager for the project, as he was for a similar sized project (TRAINER) over the years 2001-2004. He has also been a
co-investigator of the EU funded projects: AGILE (3 –year project), HORIZON/ODIGO (3 –year project), CONSENSUS II (2
–year project), IDEA (2 –year project), HUMANIST (3 –year project). This year he jointly received an 8 year Collaborative
Research Centre in Australia entitled “Living with Autism Spectrum Disorders’ with total budget $104 million. Falkmer has

authored more than 200 scientific publications.
The traffic related research can be categorised into 5 different areas:

1. Research concerning transport mobility of children and adults with disabilities.
2. Research focusing on driver education and driver assessment for young novice drivers, drivers with disabilities and
older drivers.
3. Applied research on drivers’ eye movements.
4. Applied research concerning design and evaluation of driver support systems (ITS).
5. Crash and injury road safety research

Paul Hemeren, PhD

Department of Cognitive Neuroscience
University of Skövde
5128 Skövde, Sweden
The Use of Perceptual Cues to Determine the Intent of

Cyclists in Traffic
Purpose: With the increasing occurrence of cyclists in traffic, there is a greater need for operators of motor vehicles
to predict cyclist behavior. Active safety systems in automobiles will also need to be developed to detect cyclists. The
purpose of this project was to answer the following central questions: 1) How accurate are human observers at predicting
the behavior of cyclists as the cyclists approached a crossing? 2) If the accuracy is reliably better than chance, what cues
were used to make the predictions? 3) At what distance from the crossing did the most critical cues occur? 4) Can the cues
be used in a model that can reliably predict cyclist intent?
Methods: Three experiments were conducted to address the first three questions. Naturalistic video sequences of 40
cyclists at each of two different crossings were recorded. For the experiments, observers viewed the recorded sequences
of the cyclists. At different distances (3.5, 6 or 9 meters) from the crossing, the sequences were cut, and the screen went
black. The task of the observers was to then predict if the cyclist would make a left turn or continue straight on. In the first
experiment, observers were asked to write down the cues they used to make their judgments. This data from the observers
were used to obtain a preliminary list of the most relevant cues. Experiment 2 was carried out to investigate different
distances at which observers could make reliable judgments of cyclist intent, and experiment 3 looked at the effects of
masking critical cues to see if accuracy would drop when participants did not have access to the critical cues.
Results: At 3.5 meters from the crossing, observers achieved an accuracy rate of over 80%. The critical were head
movement, speed, pedal movement, the leaning position of the cyclist and the position of the cyclist on the bike path.
Observers demonstrated accuracies of 75% at 6 meters from the crossing and 60% at 9 meters from the crossing. There
appears to be relatively large increase from 9 to 6 meters compared to the increase in accuracy from 6 to 3.5 meters. A
logistic regression model based on the 5 cues listed by the observers could reliably predict the behavior of the cyclists at
an accuracy level of just over 90%, which confirms the critical relevance of the cues.
Conclusions: These results indicate that body movement is a critical cue for predicting behavior, which is consistent
with previous results from Wood et al. (Accid Anal Prev 2012) where they demonstrate the effect of biological motion on
perceiving cyclists. The results from this project can also be used to develop active safety systems in vehicles. These
systems would have advantages over systems that merely detect cyclists since there would be an inherent flexibility in
such systems to adapt to what the cyclist will likely do in the near future.
Funding Source: Länsförsäkringsbolagens forskningsfond AB (A Swedish Insurance Company)
Biography: Paul Hemeren, PhD is a senior lecturer and acting chair of the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and
Philosophy at the University of Skövde. He received his undergraduate degree in psychology and philosophy from Hope
College, Michigan. His PhD in Cognitive Science is from the Lund University, Sweden. He is the recipient of a Knut and
Alice Wallenberg Fellowship and spent a year as a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia. His work on action and
intention recognition has received funding from The Knowledge Foundation of Sweden.

Carrie Huisingh, MPH

Clinical Research Unit, Department of Ophthalmology
School of Medicine
Birmingham, AL USA 35294
Frequent Falling and Motor Vehicle Collision Involvement

Among Older Drivers
Purpose: Older drivers have one of the highest motor vehicle collision (MVC) and MVC fatality rates per mile driven. Falls
are an enormous threat to the health and well-being of the elderly. Approximately one-third of community-dwelling
individuals fall each year, with half of these having multiple falls. Several studies have documented an association
between falls and adverse driving events among older adults. No prior study has examined whether those who have
frequent falls are at increased risk of MVC involvement compared to single or never fallers. The purpose of this study is to
examine the relationship between frequent falling and history of MVC involvement
Methods: This cross-sectional study used a large population-based sample of 2000 licensed drivers aged 70 and older from
north central Alabama. A self-reported history of falling two or more times in the prior year was used to identify frequent
fallers. Information regarding MVCs in the year prior to study enrollment was obtained from the Alabama Department
of Public Safety. Demographic, visual, health and driving characteristics were compared between frequent fallers and
infrequent or non-fallers. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios with corresponding 95% confidence
intervals for the association between fall status and occurrence of any and at-fault MVC involvement.
Results: Nine percent of the older drivers reported falling two or more times in the prior year. Logistic regression models
indicated that frequent falling was associated with having any MVC (crude OR=1.53, 95% CI: 0.77-3.02) and at-fault MVC
(crude OR=2.21, 95% CI: 0.97-5.06). There were no MVCs reported among African Americans who fell. Adjustment for the
potentially confounding effects of demographic, health, visual and driving characteristics did not meaningfully affect the
association with any MVC, whereas the association with at-fault MVC was weakened (OR=2.03; 95% CI, 0.84-4.90).
Conclusion: Frequent falling may be associated with at-fault MVC involvement among older drivers, especially among
whites. History of falling can be used to potentially identify patients at risk of MVC involvement but also to begin a dialogue
with the patient about driver safety.
Biography: Carrie Huisingh, MPH is an epidemiologist in the Clinical Research Unit in the Department of Ophthalmology at
the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is a graduate of Butler University, where she received a Bachelor of Science.
She received an M.P.H. in Epidemiology from Indiana University, followed by a 2-year CDC Applied Epidemiology Fellowship
at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in the Injury Prevention and Control Program. She is currently a Ph.D.
student in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her research interests include the
epidemiology of injuries, particularly as they relate to elderly populations, and aging-related eye diseases.

Chuck Huss, MA, COMS

Coordinator
WV Bioptic Driving Program
WV Division of Rehabilitation Services
10 McJunkin Rd.
Nitro, West Virginia 25143
WV Bioptic Driving Program: Progress Update

Objective: To provide a four (4) year update of progress of a full-time driver rehabilitation program that screens and trains
qualified low vision individuals who desire to obtain a Class G (bioptic) driver’s license in the State of West Virginia.
Methods: All Program candidates (state rehab. or self-referrals) were required to participate in comprehensive clinical low
vision examinations by an optometrist or ophthalmologist; as well as a half-day in length screening procedures consisting
of: an interview, a commentary drive (passenger-in-car) functional vision screening, clinical braking and steering reaction
test, and a behind-the-wheel screening by WVDRS bioptic driving program staff. Novice candidates (never been licensed)
who were determined to be pre-driver ready, were then required to participate in a six (6) week in length concurrently
arranged program of bioptic driver training; 90 hours of instruction (30-classroom, 30- passenger-in-car, 30-behind-the-
wheel). Experienced driver candidates (currently or previously licensed) were permitted to participate in individualized,
shorter in length competency based programs of instruction. All training candidates were required to achieve a passing
score on a standardized 40 mile in length on-road driving assessment as part of successful completion of the training
course. Graduates were then required to participate in comprehensive driver testing measures that include assessment of
maneuverability skills, commentary driving skills and on-road driving skills under the auspices of specially trained WVDMV
driver examiners. Graduates who passed the latter road test procedures were awarded a Class G driver’s license by the
WVDMV. Restrictions placed on the latter licenses include: daytime driving only, bioptic lens system in place and other
restrictions applied on a individual basis. Promulgated rules for this Program passed by the WV Legislature in 2009 also
established criteria for license renewal, removal of restrictions, suspension of driving privileges if needed, and annual
monitoring of driving records, clients served and services provided to Program candidates by Program staff.
Results: Since Program implementation (July 1, 2009) 109 clients have been referred for services. 83 of 88 clients have
completed initial driver evaluations procedures satisfactorily. 52 of 64 clients who enrolled in bioptic driver training
services completed such services satisfactorily, passed WVDMV driver license testing and were granted Class G driver
licenses. Nine (9) Program graduates are now enrolled in vo-tech or college training programs; while 43 others returned
to or found employment in a variety of professional or blue collar fields. Accumulative driving records of graduates to date
are as follows: forty-five (45) graduates are both violation and accident free. Six (6) other graduates (2 males, 4 females)
were each involved in one (1) minor traffic accident. In 2 of those cases, male drivers were found at-fault and cited. One
of those males has also accrued two (2) moving violations; which resulted in a six month license suspension by WV DMV
licensing officials because involvement in accidents and moving violations occurred in the same six (6) month time period.
Five (5) of these 7 drivers were 22 years of age or less. One other graduate was involved in a serious not-at-fault accident
(no injuries due to both drivers wearing seat belts and having airbags).
Note, an additional forty (40) previously licensed WV drivers, who presented mild central visual acuity loss and
subsequently failed mandatory visual re-screening at license renewal, were also seen for driver–re-evaluation services
by Program staff. 3 of these individuals required limited driver re-training. Thirty-seven (37) of 40 of the latter licensees
passed driver re-evaluation procedures; with a recommendation by Program staff that WVDMV officials reinstate or renew
their Class E driving privileges with appropriate non-bioptic and other restrictions as needed or where appropriate.

Thirty-two (32) months into this Program, two (2) additional state-certified driver educators were hired due to increased
client referrals for Program services. A purchase requisition for one (1) additional driver education vehicle was submitted
in April, 2012; bringing the allotment of four (4) driver training vehicles assigned to this current five (5) full-time staff
member Program. Over 70,000 miles have been logged by the driver educators and one orientation and mobility specialist/
Program Coordinator assigned to this Program for driver training purposes. Class size was increased from 2 to 4 students
starting July, 2012. There are four (4) additional six (6) week in length training classes scheduled through October 1, 2013.
Backlog for screening purposes for consideration of future participation in WV bioptic driver training program has been
reduced to three (3) students.
Conclusions: If properly screened, trained and tested, certain qualified low vision individuals who use prescription bioptic
lens systems for visual assistance in the driving task can be taught the abilities to operate a motor vehicle safely. Under
review and consideration by WVDRS senior management at the present time is: 1) collaborating with the West Virginia
University’s Children’s Vision Rehabilitation Program (WVU CVRP) to initiate a Pre-Driver Institute for 14-18 year old future
bioptic drivers; 2) adding a research component to the Program to address use of a newly purchased driver simulation
machine, GPS technology (aid or distraction to low vision drivers), and in-car videotaping of student drivers driver
performance; and 3) serving as a potential test site for other new or under development types of technology (including
innovative bioptic lens systems) to improve and advance the driving abilities of visually challenged individuals.
Biography: Mr. Huss received his Master’s of Arts degree in Orientation and Mobility from Western Michigan University in
1976. He worked as an Academy Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist in Ohio; The Betty Jane Rehabilitation Center,
Toledo Sight Center, and The West Virginia Division of Rehabilitation Services (WVDRS), Nitro, WV, 1983-2013. Mr. Huss
is recognized nationally for his work and expertise in the area of researching, developing and implementing formalized
bioptic driver training and assessment practices. He has coordinated and served as one of the primary researchers for the
West Virginia Pilot Low Vision Driving Study, and its continuum of related services. Mr. Huss accepted an offer extended
to him by WVDRS to coordinate and serve as one of the instructors assigned to a newly developed full-time Program
of formalized bioptic driver evaluation and training services, starting in 2009. He has served as a national consultant
on bioptic driving issues for the past thirty (30) years. For his years of service, passion and professional advocacy
efforts re “bioptic driving”, Mr. Huss was given the “Ambrose H. Shotwell Award” by the Association of Educators and
Rehabilitation Professionals for the Blind and Visually Impaired at its International Conference in 2012.

Gang Luo, PhD

Schepens Eye Research Institute
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA USA 02114
Can Visually Impaired People Drive Safely with Bioptic Telescopes?

Purpose: For people with low visual acuity due to age-related vision loss or congenital eye diseases, there is a legal option
in more than 40 US states, the Netherlands, and Canada to drive with bioptic telescopes. However, bioptic driving is not
well understood and its safety is still a highly controversial issue. The concern is not only about the independence and
quality of life of the visually impaired drivers, but also about the safety of other road users. Using laboratory tests and
naturalistic driving recording, this study aims to understand the effect of the bioptic on driving performance.
Methods: In laboratory experiments, the impact of the device scotoma when using a monocular bioptic was investigated
using simple perimetry stimuli and real world driving videos. Subjects’ task was to detect stimuli or driving hazards that
appeared in the device scotoma area, with the non-bioptic eye while they read letters through the bioptic telescope. In the
naturalistic driving study, home driving activities of bioptic drivers are being recorded for up to two months. Informative
segments from the driving data are identified by automated processing, and will be used in driving performance
assessment. The innovative processing methods include a robust wide-range telescope aiming point tracking technique,
and an all-direction collision hazard detection method based on video analysis.
Results: The laboratory study found that, while the device scotoma did not affect the detection performance of the non-
bioptic eye for simple perimetry stimuli, performance responding to hazardous events (appearing in the device scotoma)
in real world videos was impaired when the telescope was used. Naturalistic driving recording found bioptic use time is
much less than previously thought.
Conclusions: Bioptic drivers only spend a very small amount of time using the bioptic, driving most of the time with
impaired vision. Although the device scotoma when using the bioptic may impact the view of the traffic scene to some
extent, the benefits of vision enhancement of bioptic telescope need further investigation.
Funding source: NIH grants R21-AG034553, R01-AG041974.
Biography: Gang Luo, PhD is an Associate Scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute, and an Assistant Professor
at Harvard Medical School. He received his PhD of engineering in 1997 from Chongqing University, China. Since his
postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, he has been active in low vision research. He is interested in eye
movements of visually impaired people; walking and driving behaviors of low vision patients; and development of vision
assistive technology.

Gerald McGwin, Jr, MS, PhD

Vice Chairman and Professor of Epidemiology
School of Public Health
1922 7th Avenue South, Suite 120
Birmingham, Alabama 35294
What is Risk?
Purpose and Approach: The concept of risk, though widely utilized in biomedical research, is not well understood
particularly when considered in the same context as the concept of rate. Though mathematically related, these measures
reflect unique aspects of disease occurrence and have different interpretations at both the population and individual level.
The correct understanding and utilization of these measures is paramount to the proper design and conduct of biomedical
research studies as well as the interpretation and application of their results. This presentation will define and provide
mathematical descriptions of the concepts of risk and rate. It will also illustrate these concepts using examples from
the driving safety literature and provide the audience with some basic guidelines that can be used when designing and
interpreting research using these measures of disease occurrence.
Biography: Dr. Gerald McGwin is a Professor and Vice Chairman in the Department of Epidemiology in the School of Public
Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He is also the Director of Advanced Enterprise Analytics for
the UAB Health System. Dr. McGwin obtained his B.S. degree from the University of Vermont (1993), his M.S. degree from
Harvard University (1995) and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (1998). In addition to his
primary appointment in the UAB Department of Epidemiology, Dr. McGwin also holds appointments in the Departments of
Surgery and Ophthalmology at the UAB School of Medicine as well as the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
He is the Director of the Injury Control Research Center and the UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS)
Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design component. Dr. McGwin serves as the Associate Director of the Center of
Injury Sciences at UAB and the Clinical Research Unit in the Department of Ophthalmology. Dr. McGwin has a lengthy and
distinguished scientific reputation as a researcher having authored or co-authored over 450 peer-reviewed manuscripts,
with an emphasis on the epidemiology of injury, driving performance and safety, aging, eye disease and vision impairment
and systemic lupus erythematosus. He is an expert in the design and analysis of epidemiologic studies with a specific
emphasis of longitudinal study designs.

Martin A. Mainster, PhD, MD, FRCOphth

University of Kansas School of Medicine
Prairie Village, Kansas, USA 66208
Glare’s Causes and Consequences:

Perception and Misperceptions
Purpose: To present a multidisciplinary scientific synthesis of glare nomenclature and mechanisms.
Methods: Analysis and integration of data on glare from ophthalmology, neurology, illumination engineering, human factors
and other relevant disciplines.
Results: Glare is a normal response to abnormal illumination, whereas photophobia is an abnormal response to normal
illumination that’s exaggerated by abnormal illumination. Glare can range from insignificant to incapacitating. Aging and
ocular or systemic disease can increase susceptibility to glare and recovery time from it.
The brain receives information from at least three different types of retinal photoreceptors. Rod and cone photoreceptors
in the outer retina send most of the photic data needed for conscious vision to visual brain centers. Retinal ganglion
photoreceptors in the inner retina send most of the photic data needed for unconscious biological and behavioral control
to the suprachiasmatic nuclei and other nonvisual brain centers.
The four primary categories of glare are disability, discomfort, dazzling and scotomatic (photostress, flashblindness)
glare. Disability glare (physiological glare) is caused by intraocular light scattering (straylight) that reduces the contrast
of retinal images by spreading a veiling luminance across them. In common environments, glare and target illumination
have the same or similar spectra. Colored spectacle or intraocular lens filters attenuate both light sources equivalently,
so filters cannot decrease disability glare because they do not increase retinal image contrast. The practical effects of
disability glare from intraocular light scattering are more severe when extraocular light scattering (such as from a dirty
windshield, fog, etc.) reduces visual target contrast. Discomfort glare (psychological glare) is caused by illumination that
is too intense or variable for someone in a particular situation. It produces annoyance and aversion but may not reduce
visual performance. Dazzling glare causes annoyance, squinting, aversion and visual disability when bright light is spread
across the retina in brilliant environments. It is an extreme form of discomfort glare associated with visual impairment.
Scotomatic glare (photostress, flashblindness) causes extreme photopigment bleaching and afterimages when the macula
is overwhelmed by excessive focal light exposure.
Conclusions: Progress in understanding and managing glare has been hampered by its complex, multidisciplinary
nature and limited interdisciplinary communication. The optical origins of discomfort glare are well understood.
Neurophysiological research is clarifying how discomfort and dazzling glare depend on visual and non-visual
photoreception as well as nociceptive brain pathways involving the trigeminal ganglion and thalamus. Colored or neutral
density filters can decrease retinal illuminance in brilliant daytime environments and thus discomfort and dazzling glare.
They cannot decrease disability glare in normal environments. There are no effective nighttime personal countermeasures
currently available for headlight glare from oncoming traffic at night on undivided roadways. Minimizing extraocular light
scattering that reduces visual target contrast can potentially improve drivers’ daytime or nighttime visual performance.

Biography: Professor Mainster is the Luther and Ardis Fry Professor Emeritus of Ophthalmology of the University Of Kansas
School Of Medicine. His innovations that have become standard ophthalmic practice include the UV-protective intraocular
lens, aspheric contact lens ophthalmoscopy and the crossed-beam aiming system of Nd:YAG laser photodisruptors. He
worked in aerospace research for several years after receiving his Ph.D. in physics. His subsequent medical training
concluded at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary with a vitreoretinal fellowship. He moved to the University of
Kansas after practicing in Boston at the Schepens Retina Associates where he served as Senior Scientist and Director
of the Clinical Research Center of the Schepens Eye Research Institute. He is a fellow of the American Academy of
Ophthalmology and Royal College of Ophthalmologists. He has received the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s
Honor and Senior Achievement Awards. He has written over 140 scientific publications, been a reviewer for more than 30
scientific journals and is an author on 7 patents. He has been an invited professor at numerous universities and a keynote
speaker in many international symposia. He is recognized for his scientific contributions to retinal biophysics and imaging,
macular disease, ophthalmic laser and ophthalmoscopic lens design, phototoxicity and physiological optics. Professor
Mainster serves on a variety of editorial boards and technical standards-setting committees.

Shawn C. Marshall MD MSc FRCPC

Associate Professor
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute/Candrive
The Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre
Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1H 8M2
The Influence of Visual Conditions and Impairments on Driving

Outcomes: Preliminary Results from the Candrive Prospective
Older Driver Study
Co-authors: Sylvain Gagnon PhD, Holly Tuokko PhD, Anita Myers PhD, Gary Naglie MD,
Mark Rapoport MD, Chantal Rockwell BSc, Simon Villeneuve BSc
Background: Vision is known to decrease with age and the number of elderly drivers in Canada is predicted to double
in the next 25 years causing a large increase in the percentage of older drivers. Yet, the relationship between the visual
assessment measures used by health care professionals and licensing bureaus and driving outcomes remains unclear. The
aim of this presentation is to examine the relationship of visual impairment and common visual conditions and their effect on
driving outcomes including crash and violation rates, driving habits, driving confidence and perceived driving ability.
Methods: Candrive is a longitudinal cohort study following a group of 928 active drivers over the age of 70 for up to 5
years. Annual assessments were completed in office with follow up assessments being conducted every 4 months. A
variety of assessments were conducted at each annual appointment e.g. physical, cognitive and general health. Visual
functions were measured using the Snellen Visual Acuity Chart, the Pelli-Robson Contrast Sensitivity chart and Visual
Fields by Confrontation. The Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (self-report) was used to identify participants with glaucoma,
cataracts and macular degeneration, as well as the severity of the condition. Outcomes included self-report and Ministry
of Transportation reported collisions as well as moving violations. Participants also completed self-report questionnaires
at each annual assessment including The Driving Behaviour Questionnaire, Driving Comfort Scales, Situational Driving
Avoidance, Situational Driving Frequency, Decisional Balance Plus and Perceived Driving Ability scales.
Results: Data analysis utilizing data collected from the annual assessments for Years 1-3 is ongoing. The focus of the
research is on analyzing: a) the effects of visual conditions and impairment on driving behaviour (e.g. self regulation and
driving patterns) b) the effects of visual conditions and impairment on driving comfort and abilities and c) the impact of visual
conditions and impairments on self-report collisions, Ministry of Transportation-related collisions and moving violations.
Conclusions: The results from this study will identify the impact of vision conditions (e.g. cataract, glaucoma) and visual
impairments on driving outcomes including collisions, traffic violations, driving behaviour, driving comfort and perceived
driving abilities. Results from this study will help inform how vision affects driving and provide direction to future initiatives
such as the best methods to identify at-risk visually impaired drivers and strategies to assist them with continued driving.
Funding Sources: This study was funded by a Team Grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) entitled
“The CIHR Team in Driving in Older Persons (Candrive II) Research Program” (grant 90429)
Biography: Shawn Marshall is a specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Professor in the Department of
Medicine, University of Ottawa. He has a Master’s of Science Degree in Epidemiology and Community Health and is active
in research involving driving and disability. Dr. Marshall is an Associate Scientist at the Ottawa Health Research Institute.
Dr. Marshall is a co-principal investigator for CanDRIVE II- The CIHR Team on Older Person Driving. Primary research
interests include the development of a decision rule in identifying medical fitness to drive as well as research into the
effectiveness of conditional licensing.

Brian R. Ott, MD
Professor
Department of Neurology
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Director, Alzheimer’s Disease & Memory Disorders Center
Rhode Island Hospital
593 Eddy St., Providence, RI 02903
“Road Test and Naturalistic Driving Performance in Healthy and

Cognitively Impaired Older Adults: Does Environment Matter?
Purpose: The road test is widely accepted as the criterion standard for licensing new drivers. Given its face validity, it
has also been adapted as a tool to monitor older adults for potential declines in driving ability related to physical illness
or cognitive impairment. The validity of the road test in predicting the types of errors and problems detected using
naturalistic methods is largely unknown given the paucity of studies directly comparing road tests with naturalistic driving
performance. There are many environmental differences between these two settings, and factor analysis comparing
a standardized road test with naturalistic driving suggests that the road test requires a more-limited set of skills than
naturalistic driving, raising concern that road tests are not optimally designed to estimate driving competence in older
adults. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the structured and cued format of the road test enhances driving performance
or reveals problems that would not otherwise have been identified. The purpose of this study is to relate the standardized
road test to video recordings of naturalistic driving in older adults with a range of cognitive impairment.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional observational study, carried out in an academic medical center memory disorders
clinic. Participants included 103 older drivers (44 healthy, 59 with cognitive impairment) who passed a road test.
Measurements included error rate and global ratings of safety (pass with and without recommendations, marginal with
restrictions or training, or fail) made by a professional driving instructor.
Results: There was fair agreement between global ratings on the road test and naturalistic driving. More errors were
detected in the naturalistic environment, but this did not affect global ratings. Error scores between settings were
significantly correlated, and the types of errors made were similar. History of crashes corrected for miles driven per
week was related to road test error scores but not naturalistic driving error scores. Global cognition (Mini-Mental State
Examination) was correlated with road test and naturalistic driving errors. In healthy older adults, younger age was
correlated with fewer errors on the road test and more errors in naturalistic driving.
Conclusions: Road test performance is a reasonable proxy for estimating fitness to drive in older individuals’ typical driving
environments, but differences between performance assessed using these two methods remain poorly understood and
deserve further study.
Funding Sources: This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health
(R01AG016335).
Biography: Dr. Brian Ott is a Professor in the Department of Neurology, in the Alpert Medical School of Brown University in
Providence, Rhode Island, as well as Adjunct Professor in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Rhode Island. He is
certified in Internal Medicine with Added Qualifications in Geriatric Medicine, as well as Neurology.
He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Syracuse University where he received his BS in Biology. He attended medical school
at Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After completing an internship and residency in Internal Medicine
at Brown, he completed his Neurology residency training at the Longwood program of Harvard University. He later did a
gerontology research fellowship at Brown University.
He is currently the director of the Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center at Rhode Island Hospital, the largest
memory diagnostic and treatment center in Rhode Island and a regional referral center for southern New England.
Dr. Ott’s primary research interest focuses on the effects of aging and dementia on driving in the elderly. His work is primarily
funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, where he has received continuous funding since
2001, including a longitudinal study of cognition and road test performance in drivers with Alzheimer’s disease, and a more
recent project involving naturalistic assessment of driving in cognitively impaired elders. He has also recently begun a pilot
project examining a video feedback intervention for the safety of cognitively impaired older drivers. He has over 85 peer-
reviewed original publications and over 40 book chapters and other publications covering research in driving, quality of life,
experimental pharmacotherapy, and pharmaco-epidemiology in patients with mild cognitive impairment and dementia.
Dr. Ott is a frequent ad hoc grant reviewer for the NIH Center for Scientific Review as well as the Alzheimer’s Association
and numerous international review sections. He has served on the editorial boards of Neurology Research International,
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, and the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. He has been elected to Fellowship in the
American Academy of Neurology and the American Neurological Association. He instituted the Public Policy Committee
while serving as the Board President of the Rhode Island Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, and this year he was
appointed to the Rhode Island Governor’s Advisory Commission on Aging.

Cynthia Owsley PhD, MSPH

School of Medicine
Birmingham AL 35294-0009 USA
Characteristics of On-Road Driving By Persons With Central Vision

Loss Learning to Drive with the Assistance of a Bioptic Telescope
1
Owsley C. Driving with Bioptic Telescopes: Organizing a Research Agenda.
Optometry & Vision Science 2012; 89: 1249-1256.
2
Wood JM, McGwin G Jr, Elgin J, Searcey K, Owsley C. Characteristics of on-road driving
performance of persons with central vision loss who use bioptic telescopes. Investigative
Ophthalmology & Visual Science 2013; 54: 3790-3797.
Objective: Little is known about the kinds of challenges persons with central vision loss face as they learn to drive with
the assistance of a bioptic telescope.1 Here we report on persons in a bioptic driver training program in terms of their
performance of several skills important for save driving, as revealed by an instrumented vehicle they drove on actual roadways.
Method: Participants were those currently enrolled in a bioptic training program in the State of Alabama who had not yet
met the requirements for licensure. On-road driving was assessed in an instrumented dual-brake vehicle along 14.6 miles
of city, suburban, and controlled-access highways. Two backseat evaluators independently rated driving performance
using a standardized scoring system. Vehicle control was assessed through vehicle instrumentation and video recordings
used to evaluate head movements, lane-keeping, pedestrian detection, and frequency of bioptic telescope use. A certified
driving rehabilitation specialist sat in the front passenger seat to ensure the monitoring of safety.
Results: Skills that will be reported on include pedestrian detection, scanning behavior, speed, gap judgment, braking,
turning indicator use, obeying signs/traffic control signals, steer steadiness, lane position, and correct sign and signal
recognition. Their results will be put into context with drivers with central vision loss who have already achieved licensure
through the bioptic driving program as well as those who are normally sighted.2
Conclusion: Results will be discussed in terms of how they can help improve the design of driver training programs for
persons with central vision loss who seek to become licensed drivers.
Biography: Cynthia Owsley, MSPH, PhD is the Nathan E. Miles Chair, Professor, and Vice Chair for Clinical Research
in the Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She is a
Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wheaton College, Massachusetts, and received her PhD in Experimental Psychology from
Cornell University where she was named a National Science Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellow. Subsequently she was a
post-doctoral fellow in vision and aging at Northwestern University and received the MSPH in Epidemiology from UAB.
Dr. Owsley’s research program focuses on aging-related eye disease and vision impairment and has been continuously
funded through the National Institutes of Health since 1983. Her research program uses a number of research techniques
including psychophysical methods, epidemiology, clinical trials, and health services research. In addition to NIH research
support, Dr. Owsley’s research program has been supported by the CDC, Research to Prevent Blindness, General Motors,
Genentech, and the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama, among others. She has served on several committees for the
National Academies including the Committee on Vision, Committee on Disability Determination for Individuals with Vision
Impairment, and the Committee on the Safe Mobility of Older Persons for the Transportation Research, which she chaired.

Dr. Owsley has been named a Senior Scientific Investigator by Research to Prevent Blindness and a Gold Fellow by the
Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. She is on the Board of Directors of Prevent Blindness America. Dr.
Owsley is the recipient of the Glenn A. Fry Award from the American Optometric Foundation and the Bartimaeus Award of
the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology.

Eli Peli, MSc, OD

Schepens Eye Research Institute,
Mass Eye & Ear, Harvard Medical School
Boston MA USA 02114
The Effects of Field Loss and Age on Head Scanning

and Detection at Intersections
Objectives: Intersections are challenging for drivers with normal vision, and more so for drivers with visual field loss.
About 25% of fatal accidents occur at intersections and older drivers are more likely to be involved than middle-aged
drivers. In a driving simulator, we studied the effects of field loss and age on scanning and detection at intersections to
determine the role of inadequate head scanning in detection failures.
Methods: All participants completed about 120 minutes of driving in a simulator. Detection rates were determined for
life-size pedestrians that appeared just before the driver executed a left or right turn at 10 pre-determined T-intersections.
The pedestrian could appear at one of four locations: either extreme left or right (at the far edges of the sight triangle), or
center left or right (on the opposite side of the intersection). Head-scanning patterns on approach and during the turn were
recorded with a light-weight, head-mounted IR tracker. Group 1 included: 15 people with binocular central vision loss (CVL;
VA 20/40 to 20/200; 71 ± 14 years) and 15 age-similar controls with normal vision (NV). Group 2 included: 13 people with
complete homonymous hemianopia (HH; VA at least 20/30; 50 ± 13 years) without spatial neglect or significant cognitive
decline, and 12 age-similar NV controls.
Results: For Group 1, detection rates for the left and right center pedestrians were relatively high in the NV and CVL groups
(> 80%). However, detection rates for the extreme pedestrians, especially the extreme left pedestrian, were significantly
lower in both the CVL and the NV groups than in the younger (middle-aged) NV drivers from the second group (extreme
left pedestrian: < 40% vs. > 80%, p < 0.001). Detection failures in the CVL and older NV groups were primarily due to
inadequate head scan amplitudes, rather than failing to scan. Group 2 participants with left HH had low detection rates for
the pedestrian on the extreme left (46%), while those with right HH had low detection rates for the pedestrian on the near
center right (58%) and the extreme right (8%). Detection failures of the left HH drivers were mainly due to inadequate scan
amplitudes, while detection failures of the right HH drivers were due to both failing to scan to the right, and insufficient
scan amplitudes.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that older NV drivers and drivers with CVL fail to head scan sufficiently far to the left
when approaching a T-intersection, which may be a consequence of physical general aging rather than vision impairment.
Older NV and CVL drivers should be advised about the need to scan far enough to the left at T-intersections or driver
assistive devices may need to be developed to provide feedback when scan magnitudes are insufficient. Drivers with HH
(without spatial neglect) demonstrated alarmingly low detection rates for pedestrians on their blind side (even near the
center of the intersection); they both failed to scan toward the blind side, and when they did scan, did not scan sufficiently
far. Drivers with HH should be advised about the need to scan (head plus eye movement) the full width of the clear sight
triangle at T-intersections (i.e. to scan about 85 degrees to the blind side); training or assistive devices designed to address
specific scanning problems might be beneficial.
Funding Source: NIH grant EY12890 (EP) and EY018680 (ARB)

Biography: Dr. Peli is the Moakley Scholar in Aging Eye Research at Schepens Eye Research Institute and Professor of
Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. Since 1983, he has cared for visually impaired patients as director of the Vision
Rehabilitation Service at Tufts-Medical Center in Boston. Dr. Peli is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, a
Fellow of the Optical Society of America, a Fellow of the SID (Society for Information Display), and a Fellow of the SPIE
(The International Society of Optical Engineering). He was presented the 2001 Glenn A. Fry Lecture Award and the 2009
William Feinbloom Award by the American Academy of Optometry, the 2004 Alfred W. Bressler Prize in Vision Science
(shared with Dr. R. Massof) by the Jewish Guild for the Blind, the 2006 Pisart Vision Award by the Lighthouse International,
the 2009 Alcon Research Institute award (shared with Dr. R. Massof), the 2010 Otto Schade Prize from the SID (Society for
Information Display) and the 2010 Edwin H Land Medal awarded jointly by the Optical Society of America and the Society
for Imaging Science and Technology.
Dr. Peli’s principal research interests are image processing in relation to visual function and clinical psychophysics in low
vision rehabilitation, image understanding and evaluation of display-vision interaction. He has published more than 160
scientific papers and has been awarded 8 US Patents. He also edited a book entitled Visual Models for Target Detection
with special emphasis on military applications and co-authored a book entitled Driving with Confidence: A Practical Guide
to Driving with Low Vision.

Michelle Porter, PhD

Professor, B.P.E. Program,
University of Manitoba, 207 MaxBell Centre,
Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2
Naturalistic Driving in the Candrive Common Cohort Study

Licensing authorities around the world are grappling with the issue of the burgeoning older driver population, and the
potential implications for road safety. In many Canadian provinces physicians are required by law to report drivers of any
age who might not be medically fit to drive. However, physicians are not always comfortable with this reporting, partly
because they do not feel that they have the tools to make this decision. Candrive II is a longitudinal study of older drivers
(! 70 years of age) at seven sites (Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg and Victoria) in four
provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia). The main goal of the project is to determine tools that could
be used by family physicians to screen older drivers regarding their medical fitness to drive. Participants in the study
undergo annual assessments of their cognition, vision, hearing, physical function, medical conditions, and medications.
All participants also had a device installed in their vehicle to monitor all of their driving trips. Over 900 participants
were enrolled starting in 2009, and the data collection continues. The purpose of this presentation will be to detail the
procedures for this study, as well as to report on some of the preliminary findings related to the sample characteristics,
naturalistic driving, as well as the performance of some of the tests.
Biography: Dr. Porter is a Professor and Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation
Management at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She received her PhD in Kinesiology from the
University of Western Ontario.
Since 1999 Dr. Porter has been conducting research in the area of older drivers. She developed an innovative method
to assess driving in a quantitative fashion using global positioning system (GPS) and video technology. This work led to
several studies including: age group comparisons of driving performance and behaviours, driver education, functional
performance related to driving, and also the interaction between road users and road design. Her research has been
funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Manitoba Health Research Council, the Natural Science and
Engineering Research Council, AUTO21, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Dr. Porter is involved in a
CIHR-funded longitudinal study, Candrive II (Canadian Driving Research Initiative for Vehicular Safety in the Elderly). The
program’s aim is to improve the safety and quality of life of older drivers in Canada, and in particular to determine tests that
could be used by physicians to screen older drivers.

Matthew Rizzo, MD
Professor of Neurology
University of Iowa
200 Hawkins Drive
Iowa City, IA 52242
Naturalistic Driving, Video Capture and Medical Cars
Abstract: Naturalistic driving assessments based on driving instrumentation packages installed into the driver’s own car
offer unique insights on real-world driving exposure and driver safety. Laboratory-based testing often leads to attenuated
predictions of human behavior in real-world settings, including in models that seek to explain factors that affect driver
safety on the road. Until now, we had to rely on individuals’ judgments and self-report of their own behavior on the
roadway to characterize exposure to road risks, subject to impaired driver memory, cognition, and awareness.
Naturalistic studies with continuous recordings from GPS and on-board diagnostic port devices (OBD) have indicated
that some objective exposure metrics such as miles driven, number of trips was unrelated to self-reports. Other objective
metrics of exposure (night driving, bad weather, road culture) were meaningfully related to self-reported driving frequency,
avoidance, and comfort, yet objective metrics often showed greater exposure to challenging situations than self-reports.
These studies did not include video samples from the drives.
Videos are essential to capture driver safety errors (e.g., running a red light) and incidents that are near-misses or at-fault
crashes. Such rich data add to the often incomplete DOT records on the driver’s safety errors and driving risk. Videos
are also a key source of information for discernment of driver states including distraction, alertness, and sleepiness that
may have led to unsafe incidents. Further, video recordings can capture exposure variables such as frequency of driving
tasks (intersections, curves, etc.) and road conditions encountered (e.g., wet) that often change over a single drive.
Video can also linked to more static or general day-level representations derived from GPS-based route information and
Geographical Information System (GIS) databases. In short, video samples permit construction of a more complete picture
of events and contexts for driver behavior and safety risk.
Our ongoing work integrates video with continuous electronic data on vehicle speed, acceleration, and braking information
(throttle), and GPS over several-months-long epochs of driving in different at risk driver cohorts. Empirical and strategic
issues concern utility and validity of intermittent video samples from “black box” devices for capturing individual
difference variability in real-world driving performance (as in an ongoing study of obstructive sleep apnea and community
controls), as well as approaches for analyzing the large data sets to discern “phenotypes” of behavior in different at-risk
driver cohorts. The findings are informing development of future tools for screening, identifying, educating, and intervening
in vulnerable individuals with functional impairments due to aging and medical disorders, including “medical cars”.
Supported by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging and National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
Biography: Matthew Rizzo, MD is Professor of Neurology, Engineering and Public Policy, Director of the Provost’s
University-wide Aging Mind and Brain Initiative, Vice-Chair for Translational Research in Neurology, Director of the
Division of Neuroergonomics (including instrumented vehicles and driving simulators), and senior attending physician in
the Memory Disorders Clinic. He has conducted research in driver attention and fitness to drive for two decades funded by
the NIH, CDC and industry. He has led numerous multidisciplinary research projects addressing behavioral consequences

of neurological disorders, advised the US Army on its translational neurosciences research program, and the American
Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, American Academy of Neurology, American Medical Association, and several
US states and governments (including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Sweden, US) on evidence-based strategies for evaluating
and supporting vulnerable drivers. Relevant service includes the US National Academy of Sciences –– Board on Human-
Systems Integration, US Food and Drug Administration, and Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration Medical Advisory
Committee (appointed by the US Secretary of Transportation). Dr. Rizzo was the first to integrate high fidelity simulators
into clinical settings and has developed some of the most advanced instrumented vehicles in experimental and naturalistic
settings to study driver performance research. He is the author or co-author of over 300 scientific articles and reports. Dr.
Rizzo earned his undergraduate degree from Columbia University and his MD degree from the Johns Hopkins University.

Joceline Rogé, PhD

Laboratoire Ergonomie et Sciences Cognitives pour les Transports IFSTTAR, Bron, France.
Institut Français des Sciences et Technologies des Transports, de l’Aménagement et des
Réseaux (IFSTTAR)
25 avenue François Mitterrand
69675 Bron Cedex – France
Useful Visual Field Training: A Way to Improve Elderly Car

Drivers’ Ability to Detect Vulnerable Road Users
Purpose: Users of two-wheeled motorized vehicles accounted for 25% of fatalities on French roads in 2011, 13%
pedestrians, and 3.6% cyclists (ONISR, 2012). Elderly drivers are over-involved in pedestrian-related hits (Bromberg et al.,
2012). For the automobile-motorcycle collisions, the most typical ones occur when an automobile manoeuvres into the
path of an approaching motorcycle. According to Pai (Pai et al., 2009), elderly motorists (aged over 60) appeared to be
overrepresented in accidents that imply violating the motorcycle’s right of way. These data raise the question of elderly
drivers’ perception of vulnerable road users. It is possible that the ability to detect a vulnerable road user depends on
motorists’ attentional ability, especially on their useful visual field (Rogé et al., 2002).
The purpose of this study is to examine the ability of two groups of elderly car drivers to detect vulnerable road users in a
simulated car-driving task. One group is given specific training, aimed at increasing their useful visual field, while driving.
Our hypothesis is that this training would allow them to detect more easily vulnerable road users than untrained elderly
drivers during simulated driving.
Method: The sample consisted of 31 car drivers (70.3 years old) who came two times at the laboratory. Participants in the
experimental group underwent training using a table simulator aimed at increasing their useful visual field during driving.
Phases during which the vehicle was stationary alternated with phases during which participants were driving. During the
various stages of training, an auditory feedback informed participants of correct detections and omissions. Participants
in the control group drove using the same table simulator for the same length of time as participants in the experimental
group. Their task was to follow a vehicle while maintaining a constant distance between themselves and this vehicle.
The driving test took place in a fixed-base car driving simulator (Peugeot 308). Participants were instructed to drive to
a specific town and to respect the Highway Code. While driving, participants were required to flash their headlights as
soon as they detected a motorcycle or a pedestrian and without making any mistakes. The participants’ ability to detect
vulnerable road users was evaluated both prior to training (or to the ‘pursuit’ task for the untrained group) and afterwards.
Results: Data analysis indicated that the training led to a significant increase in drivers’ useful visual field. In addition, the
comparison of performance of the two groups showed the beneficial effect of the training on driving, as elderly drivers
who received training had a better ability to detect vulnerable road users in the road environment.
Conclusion: This research could potentially be applied in cognitive intervention programs for older adults in order to
preserve their ability to drive and improve the safety of vulnerable road users.
Biography: Joceline Rogé received her PhD in Cognitive Psychology from University of Social Sciences, Grenoble, France.
Since October 2005, she is a senior researcher at the Institut Français des Sciences et Technologies des Transports,
de l’Aménagement et des Réseaux (IFSTTAR) in Bron, France. Prior to her current appointment, Dr. Rogé was a Senior

Lecturer in Psychology at Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg, France for 10 years and concurrently was conducting
her research at the Center of Applied Physiology (CEPA) which was a research unit of CNRS (French National Research
Center). She has over 20 years’ experience in cognitive psychology and particularly related to car drivers’ safety.
Dr. Rogé has conducted researches in various areas including the modification of car drivers’ useful visual field as a
function of various parameters related to the task (such as complexity, speed, traffic, priority of the task, duration) and
individual characteristics (such as age, sleep deprivation). Dr. Rogé’s current research includes the analysis of factors
modifying vulnerable road users’ conspicuity for car drivers, and the study of different methods of driver training in order to
improve safety.

Thomas Schalk, PhD

Vice-President, Voice Technology
Agero 8550 Freeport Parkway
Irving TX 75063
A Continued Investigation into Secondary Task Alternatives:

Purely Speech-Based vs. Combined Speech/Vision Methods
Objectives: Well-designed human-machine interfaces may help mitigate cognitive distraction for drivers. It is generally
accepted that complicated device interfaces with high visual dependencies clearly induce driver distraction during use.
According to research1 for entering text, speech has proven to be a viable and significantly safer alternative to traditionally
visual-intensive methods. For managing short lists, such as selecting an item from a list of options, a visual-manual
interface has been shown to be safe and easy to use while driving. Many of the routine tasks associated with driving
include entering text and managing lists (e.g., destination entry, music, dialing, and messaging).
The primary objective of this study was to compare and contrast differences in awareness, task performance, and
vehicular control for 3 user interfaces: auditory-vocal, visual-manual, and a multimodal user interface, including vocal,
auditory, visual, and touch modalities. The study was also aimed at comparing the behaviors of younger drivers with older
drivers while using the 3 different interfaces.
Methodology: The On-Road Assessment required participants to engage in nine destination entry tasks, including three
visual-manual tasks, three similar auditory-vocal tasks, and three similar multimodal tasks. The destination entry task
included the entry of an address, a business name, and a category, as well as the selection of the target destination from
a list of the search results (e.g., a particular Italian restaurant). Event detection was also included as a background task
performed while driving.
The following metrics were measured: task duration, task success rate, lateral and longitudinal vehicular control, glance
duration and frequency, lane deviation, and event detection. A post-task questionnaire was used to assess workload
management. After all tasks were performed, each participant filled out a survey to characterize selected aspects of each
user interface tested. The test subjects included a young set of drivers (< 30 years old) and an older set of drivers (> 65
years old) from the Southwest Virginia area.
Results: The data as a whole slightly favored the multimodal interface. The average task duration was lowest for the
multimodal interface. The multimodal and auditory-vocal interfaces were shown to be superior to the visual-manual
interface for task success rate, vehicular control, and workload management.
The older participants had more difficulty with the visual-manual interface than the younger participants. However, both
speech interfaces (multimodal and auditory-vocal) were easy to use by all participants based on vehicular control data
and subjective workload management ratings. The majority of participants expressed the desire to have the multimodal
interface on their next vehicle. A small minority of participants expressed the desire to have the visual-manual interface on
their next vehicle.

Conclusions: The results show that through the use of a multimodal interface, the task of entering text strings and
managing lists of search results while driving can be accomplished safely, and with lower task completion times, when
compared to pure auditory-vocal or visual manual counterparts. The data show that the elderly drivers benefit more than
the young drivers, in term of task performance, driving performance, and workload management. We conclude that for
secondary driving tasks, speech is better for entering text strings, while vision is better for list management.
Biography: With over 30 years of experience in advanced speech technology and automotive user interface design, Dr.
Schalk is Vice President of Voice Technology at Agero, a leading connected vehicle service provider with customers that
include Hyundai, Toyota, Lexus, Infiniti and BMW. Dr. Schalk is responsible for Agero’s voice strategy and focuses on
advanced user interfaces that enhance the driving experience while minimizing driver distraction.
Prior to joining ATX, Dr. Schalk was the CTO at Philips Speech Processing and the CTO of Voice Control Systems. He
is currently a board member of the Applied Voice Input/Output Society, as well as the chair of the Speech Technology
Consortium. He is also a committee member of the SAE VUI task force.
Schalk received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a Bachelor of Science
degree in Electrical Engineering from the George Washington University. He holds numerous key patents in the areas of
speech technology and speech applications.
Neurauter, Hankey, Schalk, and Wallace, TRB 2012

1

Maria T. Schultheis, PhD

Associate Professor
Director of Clinical Training
Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Visual Considerations in Driving Performance Among Individuals

with Multiple Sclerosis
Purpose: Visual disturbances are one of the most common symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). While
studies have examined the relationship between MS-associated impairments and driving performance—very few have
examined the contribution of visual performance on driving among this population.
Methods: The workshop will present findings from multiple studies that have examined a variety of measures of visual
performance among with MS. Visual metrics will include both traditional measures associated with driving capacity (e.g.,
visual acuity, peripheral vision) and measures that have been shown to be compromised among individual with MS but not
currently associated with driving (i.e., contrast sensitivity). Driving performance will be measures by driving simulation,
self-reported driving questionnaire and driving history records.
Results: The study will provide a review of the contributions of various visual metrics that can impact driving performance. The
data will highlight the potential contribution of comprehensive visual examinations for individuals with MS who continue to drive.
Conclusion: Multiple sclerosis can result in a broad variety of visual difficulties—many of which may not be considered
relevant to driving performance. Yet, the combined findings from these studies indicate that vision and visual processing in
this clinical population may warrant further consideration.
Objective of the talk: By the end of the presentation, the participant will be able to:
s )DENTIFYCOMMON-3RELATEDVISUALDISTURBANCESANDTHEIRRELATIONSHIPTODRIVINGPERFORMANCE
s $ISCUSSPOTENTIALVISUALMEASUREMENTTOOLSANDORREHABILITATIONSTRATEGIESTHATCANIMPROVEDRIVINGCAPACITYAMONG
individuals with MS.
Biography: B.S. (1991) Rutgers University, Biological Sciences, M.A. (1993) Temple University, Biological Science,
Specialization: Neuroscience, Ph.D. (1998) Drexel University, Clinical Psychology, Specialization: Neuropsychology
Dr. Schultheis is an Associate Professor with appointments in the Department of Psychology and the School of Biomedical
Engineering, Science and Health Systems. At Drexel, she serves as the Director of Clinical Training of the graduate
clinical program. Dr. Schulthies’ clinical and research experience have been focused on the rehabilitation of cognitively
impaired populations, including traumatic brain injury, stroke and multiple sclerosis. Specifically, she has specialized in
the application of technologies to address clinical needs. A main focus of her research is studying the demands of driving
following neurological compromise which includes the development of new virtual reality driving assessment protocols.
Dr. Schultheis’ overall interest is in research related to the investigation and development of methodologies that have
functional significance and can improve the quality of everyday life for persons with disabilities Dr. Schultheis’ research
has been consistently funded by such organizations as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS). Her work was
recognized early in her career in student awards from the National Academy of Neuropsychology and the Philadelphia
Neuropsychological Society. She is also the recipient of the 2007 American Psychological Association Early Career Award
for Division 40 (Clinical Neuropsychology), a Fellow of Clinical Neuropsychology and in 2013 was honored as Mentor of the
Year by the Philadelphia Neuropsychological Society.

Keynote Speaker
Larry Smythe, EdD
Principal Engineer: Human Engineering
Nissan Technical Center N.A.
Farmington Hills, MI, 48331
Main Points Regarding Driver / Passenger Vision:

1. What Kinds of Information do Automotive Human Factors Engineers Use to Create Vehicles?
2. What Information is Needed but Currently Unavailable?
3. What Vision related Data and Research Protocols are Needed to Develop Autonomous Vehicles?
Background: Automotive Human Factors engineers use a variety of tools such as FMVSS regulations, SAE & ISO
standards, plus in-house performance studies, customer clinics, and specific research from journals, such as American
Psychological Association, Human Factors & Ergonomics. Discussion topics will be;
Vehicle Development: Driver vision highly influences vehicle architecture, ease of driving operation, and customer
preference. From an architectural standpoint, vision is the starting point by which glass planes and interior boundaries
are defined. This process includes using driver visual performance metrics to meet NHTSA HMI Guidelines, FMVSS
regulations plus SAE and ISO standards. As such, many driver vision issues are shared between different types of vehicles
but differ slightly based on vehicle characteristics and OEM brand identity. One vision research opportunity is to measure
how the range of interpupilary distances because of gender, age and population origin effects pillar obscuration of
roadways and steering wheel obscuration of meter clusters (SAE 1050).
Product Specific & Fundamental Research: Oftentimes during product develop; a specific question must be answered
for decision support of styling models and / or advanced product design. As an example: forward up vision is influenced
by windshield header fore / aft location. Moving headers rear improves vision but degrades roominess. A research
opportunity would be to map interior visual cues as a library of JND’s based on size, distance, texture, color and surface
contours to quantify perceived interior spaciousness. Another opportunity is to support ISO TC22 SC13 WG5 special task
force to develop a library of primitive shapes used to develop future symbols; especially for autonomous vehicles. Another
opportunity would be to leverage neural anatomy to identify if stimulus geometries of cortical cell receptor fields can be
used to predict speed and accuracy of symbol recognition. Similarly, is there a way to classify speed and accuracy of
picture recognition as a function of visual and information density? Reason: NHTSA recommends to lockout album art
because of high cognitive loads required to recognize complex pictures.
Autonomous Vehicles & Vision Research: Is there a need for vision research after the full implementation of autonomous
vehicles? I contend that vision research may even accelerate because of electronic device advancements and some
portion of the population will frequently choose to drive. One of my favorite devices is Head Up Displays (HUD) because they
offer many advantages over conventional displays but they do present many visual challenges. HUD’s are also suggested as
a way to reduce older driver workload and for autonomous vehicles may be valuable for vehicle-driver handoffs. One study
topic might be to understand relationships between older driver dark adaption, their contrast sensitivity and susceptibility
to cognitive capture to define display characteristics for Forward Looking Infra-Red HUD’s (FLIR) to extend older driver
mobility at night. Moreover, from a 7/2013 autonomous vehicle meeting at Stanford, several questions regarding vision and
display systems were raised such as “Will an individual driver’s characteristics affect their ability to use the automated
systems and/or transition between them? And “How do you integrate multiple system information (e.g., automation, collision

warning, connected vehicles) into a display in a meaningful and informative way? An interesting topic regarding these
HMI issues is the comfort and trust of information because usability is highly influenced by an individual’s epistemological
beliefs. These and other topics will be presented in an open discussion format.
Biography: Dr. Smythe is Principal Engineer: Human Engineering at Nissan Technical Center in Farmington Hills MI. He is a
USA Delegate Expert for ISO TC22 SC13: Ergonomics Applicable to Road Vehicles, Convener of TC22 SC13 WG3: Operator
Controls & Displays, Member of TC22 SC13 WG8: HMI, Chair of SAE Human Accommodations and Design Devices, SAE
Member of Safety & Human Factors Steering Committee & member of the Autonomous Vehicle HMI Subcommittee.
Professional Memberships: American Psychological Association, Human Factors & Ergonomics Society and SAE.
Education: BS-Wayne State University, MA-The University of Detroit, and EdD-Alliant International University

David Strayer, PhD

380 S. 1530 E. RM 502
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
Benchmarking Cognitive Distraction in the Automobile
The goal of our research was to establish a systematic framework for measuring and understanding cognitive distraction
in the vehicle. Three experiments were designed to systematically measure cognitive distraction. The first experiment
served as a control in which participants performed eight different tasks without the concurrent operation of a motor
vehicle. In the second experiment, participants performed the same eight tasks while operating a fixed-base driving
simulator. In the third experiment, participants performed the eight tasks while driving an instrumented vehicle. In each
experiment, the tasks involved 1) a baseline single-task condition, 2) concurrent listening to a radio, 3) concurrent listening
to a book on tape, 4) concurrent conversation with a passenger seated next to the participant, 5) concurrent conversation
on a hand-held cell phone, 6) concurrent conversation on a hands-free cell phone, 7) concurrent interaction with a
speech-to-text interfaced e-mail system, and 8) concurrent performance with an auditory version of the Operation Span
(OSPAN) task. Each task allows the driver to keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the steering wheel, so any
impairment to driving stems from cognitive sources associated with the diversion of attention from the task of operating
the motor vehicle. We used a combination of performance indices to assess mental workload including reaction time and
accuracy in response to a peripheral light detection task, subjective workload measures from the NASA Task Load Index
and physiological measures associated with EEG activity and ERPs time-locked to the peripheral light detection task.
We also obtained primary-task measures of driving in experiments using the driving simulator and instrumented vehicle.
We used these data to develop a rating system for cognitive distraction. We found that activities such as listening to the
radio or a book on tape were not very distracting. Other activities, such as conversing with a passenger or talking on a
hand-held or hands-free cell phone, are associated with moderate/significant increases in cognitive distraction. Finally,
in-vehicle activities, such as using a speech-to-text system to send and receive text or e-mail messages, produced
a relatively high level of cognitive distraction. These findings can help inform scientifically based policies on driver
distraction, particularly as they relate to cognitive distraction stemming from the diversion of attention to other concurrent
activities in the vehicle.
Funding Sources: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
Biography: David Strayer is a professor in the Cognition and Neural Sciences in the Department of Psychology at the
University. He received his PhD from the University of Illinois@ Urbana-Champaign in 1989 and worked at GTE laboratories
before joining the faculty at the University of Utah. Dr. Strayer is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Sciences,
and in 2010 received the University of Utah Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Research Award. He has been
conducting research and publishing on driver distraction for over a decade.

Timo Tervo, MD, PhD Professor

Helsinki University Eye Hospital
Helsinki, Finland 00029
Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Traffic Risks and

Criminality
Timo Tervo1 , Juha Holpainen1, Jussi Päivänsalo2, Risto Maksimainen2, Kari Rantala2 and Katarina
Michelsson3
1
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 2 National Traffic Police,
Finland, 3 Soutajankuja 5, 00570 Helsinki, Finland
Purpose: To investigate the adult outcome of 122 persons diagnosed in childhood with attention-deficit-hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD). Motor, cognitive and educational impairments, psychological problems, traffic accidents and other
criminal acts notified by the police and being a victim of crimes were analyzed.
Methods: The ADHD group was born in 1971-74 and diagnosed in their childhood. They were isolated from 894 newborns
with complications. The individuals were then followed since birth and data were collected at the ages of 5, 9, 16 and 30
years. The police registers were checked at age 40 and included the incidences during last five-years. The results were
compared with a control group of 94 persons born at the same time.
Results: The ADHD individuals had impaired motor function, perceptual problems and a lower IQ than the controls at
the age of five, nine and 16 years. At age 30 the ADHD persons were less educated, more frequently unemployed and
showed more alcohol and/or drug use than the controls. Eleven ADHD men had died due to traffic accidents, suicide, or
drug abuse-related problems. Violence and economical crimes were more common among the ADHD persons. They also
showed more traffic citations. Though the difference between the ADHD and the control group was highly significant, in
most items studied we could not find differences between ADHD persons with and without criminal history. When the
frequency of criminal acts was compared with common statistics from Finland the risk for driving alcohol-intoxicated was
19-fold, for other traffic citations 4-fold and for other criminal acts 7-fold.
Conclusion: Many ADHD persons diagnosed in childhood have as adults lack of education, unemployment, alcohol and
drug problems. They also commit more criminal acts. The risk for traffic citations was also higher. However, based on the
test results, it was not possible to foresee from the childhood check-up data which individuals would be more prone to
commit criminal acts in adolescence.
Biography: Timo Tervo, MD, PhD is professor of Applied Clinical Ophthalmology in Helsinki University Eye Hospital, also
responsible in the teaching of traffic medicine. He is also a traffic accident investigator. Juha Holopainen is assistant
professor of Ophthalmology. Katarina Michelsson, MD, PhD, is a retired Assistant Professor of Paediatrics, who pioneered
in diagnosing, treating and supporting ADHD children in Finland. Jussi Päivänsalo, Risto Maksimainen and Kari Rantala
work for The Finnish Traffic Police supervised by Police Captain Kari Rantala.

Lian Kheng Frederick Tey, PhD

DSO National Laboratories
27 Medical Dr. #09-01
Singapore, 117510
Screening Driver’s Fatigue: A Parallel Singapore

and Hungarian Study
Frederick Tey1, Sheng Tong Lin1, Ying Ying Tan1 & Arpad Csatho2
Objectives: The aim of this study is to identify the threshold levels of fatigued drivers using commercially off-the-shelves
cognitive tests. These threshold values will form the basis for the “drive or no-drive” criteria to screen and prevent
fatigued drivers from driving in both study populations.
Methods: The Singapore and Hungarian studies were conducted to evaluate inter and intra-subject variability respectively.
The Singapore study reported 44 participants each underwent two 4-hour driving sessions (Session A: cognitive tests
administered pre, post driving and hourly during driving, and Session B: cognitive tests administered only pre and post
driving). The order of the sessions were randomized where 21 participants went through Session A and then Session B
a week later, while vice versa for rest. Four participants were excluded from the study due to motions sickness and non-
compliance. For the Hungarian study, all 20 participants repeated Session A driving in 5 separate days, not more than 3
days apart between trial days. Two types of cognitive tests (Psychomotor Vigilance Task Tester-PVT and PenScreen-PS)
were used as fatigue screening devices.
Results: Participants in both studies had an increased difficulty to sustain their attention to reaction time tasks as indicated
by the slower reaction time and increased number of attentional lapses for PVT performance after the 4-hour-long driving.
In addition, participants also had an increased difficulty to ignore distracter stimuli after driving as suggested by findings
of the Number Pair Test, one of the tasks in PenScreen. Based on the driving performance and cognitive test results for
the Singapore study, the participants were classified into 3 groups: the Elite group (n = 11) where participants completed
the full 4 hours of driving trial, the Vulnerable group (n = 15) where participants did not complete the driving trial, and
the Malinger group (n = 14) where participants seemed to be gaming their behaviour for an early release from the trial.
However, in the Hungarian study, none of the drivers’ mean PVT reaction time exceeded the proposed no-drive criteria
set based on the Singapore data. The results could not show individual subject’s variability in PVT reaction time at the
point of compromised driving performance. In terms of performance in variation coefficient, we could only ascertain that
performance variation within-subject across 5 days was not significant within acceptable fatigue level, but not at the point
of unacceptable fatigue or beyond.
Conclusions: The Singapore study allowed us to empirically derive a “drive or no-drive” screening criteria for the
Singapore population, while the Hungarian study showed that within subject PVT measures across 5 days were consistent
and remained within acceptable fatigue levels even after 4 hours of driving. This suggests that Hungarian drivers are more
tolerant of extended driving than Singapore drivers who typically drive less than an hour in travelling from one end of their
country to the other. Further research is needed to determine the fatigue thresholds of Hungarian drivers and to see if
within subjects test-retest reliability of PVT measures continues to hold at fatigued levels.

Richard A. Tyrrell PhD

Clemson University
Clemson, SC USA 29634-1355
Misperceptions About Night Vision by Drivers and Pedestrians
Purpose: Considerable evidence has accumulated that illumination-related changes in drivers’ ability to see increased the
risk that road users experience at night. Although researchers are well aware of the ways in which drivers’ visual abilities
change as illumination decreases less is known about the extent to which drivers understand the visual changes that they
experience at night. Such “meta-perceptions” are important because they inform road users’ decisions about whether
and how to travel at night. For example a runner who falsely believes that he is conspicuous to approaching drivers may
feel comfortable running along an unilluminated roadway without having made any effort to enhance his own conspicuity.
This presentation will summarize two experiments that used novel techniques to identify limitations in road users’
understanding of nighttime-related changes in visual capabilities.
Experiment 1: Why do pedestrians overestimate their own conspicuity to approaching drivers? at night? To determine
the extent to which pedestrians rely upon headlamp illumination information when judging their own conspicuity at night,
48 pedestrians walked to the point in front of a stationary vehicle that represented the distance at which they believed
the driver would be able to just recognize that a pedestrian were present. Unbeknown to the pedestrians, high beam
intensity was manipulated between subjects by placing neutral density filters on the headlamps. The results indicated that
the pedestrians’ estimates of their own conspicuity were not significantly affected by headlamp illumination even when
only 3% of the headlamp illumination was present. This finding suggests that pedestrians do not make use of headlamp
illumination information when Judging their own conspicuity at night.
Experiment 2: To evaluate whether observers appreciate the extent to which low luminance affects their own visual acuity,
20 participants estimated their own acuity after having received training in two methods of estimating the size of Snellen
Es. One method used a verbal magnitude estimation technique, and the other was a manual technique that involved
adjusting a pair of calipers. After the training, dark-adapted observers estimated their own acuity while they wore goggles
containing neutral density filters and sat 6 m from a blank wall. Although the acuity estimates were reasonably accurate at
high luminance, at lower luminance levels the observers overestimated their acuity by a wide margin. The overestimates
were even greater when the contrast of the acuity targets was reduced. These results suggest that observers fail to
appreciate the extent to which their acuity is degraded as luminance levels decrease.
Conclusions: These findings add to the growing evidence that road users do not fully appreciate the visual challenges that
exist at night.
Biography: Richard A. Tyrrell is a Professor of Psychology at Clemson University. He received a Ph.D. in Experimental
Psychology from Penn State University. He has a long-standing interest in visual problems associated with night driving. In
2012 the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society awarded him the A. R. Lauer Safety Award for his research on the safety
of pedestrians at night.

Ergun Y. Uc, MD
Department of Neurology
University of Iowa
Carver College of Medicine
& Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Iowa City, IA USA 52242
Driving Rehabilitation in Neurological Diseases of Elderly

Neurological such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and stroke affect visual perception, cognition,
and motor function, resulting in impaired driving. While progress has been made in identification of unsafe drivers with
these disorders, research into driver rehabilitation is in early phases of development. Potential rehabilitation strategies
include training of underlying visual, cognitive, and physical functions, driver education, or contextual training using
road vehicles or simulators. Findings from various driving interventions in aging and these neurological disorders will be
discussed and a framework to driver rehabilitation will be presented.
Supported by R01 NS044930 and I01 RX000 170-01, Merit Review Award, Department of Veterans Affairs
Biography: Dr. Ergun Uc is neurologist who is interested in how Parkinson’s disease impairs performance of real-world
tasks (e.g., driving) and in the effect of behavioral (e.g., exercise, cognitive training) or pharmaceutical interventions on
function in PD. Dr. Uc has received research support from National Institutes of Health (Prediction of Driver Safety in
Parkinson’s disease), Department of Veterans Affairs (Driver Rehabilitation in PD, Effect of Aerobic Exercise on Function
and Cognition in PD), as well as American Parkinson Disease Association and Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. He is
an Associate Professor at the Department of Neurology, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, with a joint
appointment at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center of Iowa City. He is the Associate Director of the Movement Disorders
Division at the University of Iowa. He graduated from the University of Istanbul, and did his neurology residency and
movement disorders fellowship at the University of Iowa prior to joining the faculty. He has been voted to Best Doctors
database since 2005.

LJ van Rijn, MD PhD

Ophthalmic surgeon
VU University Medical Center
PO Box 7057
1007 MB Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Prevalence of Impairments of Visual Function in Relation to

Driving Habits in European Drivers, Presented on Behalf of the
European Glare Project Group, (see www.glare.be)
Purpose: Impairments of visual function occur predominantly in elderly drivers. Such impairments may lead to increased
risk of involvement in traffic accidents. For insight in the magnitude of this risk on a population scale, it is important to
have knowledge about the prevalence of impairments of visual function in elderly drivers and about the exposure of those
drivers: how often do they drive and in which locations. The present study was conducted to answer these questions.
Methods: 2422 drivers were investigated in 5 participating clinics: VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam; the
Landesklinik für Augenheilkunde und Optometrie in Salzburg; the Universitäts-Augenklinik in Tübingen; the Centro de
Oftalmología Barraquer in Barcelona and the Universitair Ziekenhuis Antwerpen. Participants belonged to either one of the
age categories: 45-54 years, 55-64 years, 65-74 years and 75 years of age and older. A smaller group with ages between
20 and 30 years served as a reference group. We measured visual acuity, both with driving correction and with best
correction, visual field, contrast sensitivity, straylight and Useful Field of View. Subjects were asked to fill in a custom made
questionnaire about driving habits and, in addition, the NEI-VFQ25. All subjects underwent a slit lamp examination and
fundoscopy.
Results: We found that the prevalence of impairments of visual functions is low in the younger age groups, and rises to
relevant percentages in the higher age groups. This counts for all modalities of visual function, but especially for contrast
sensitivity, straylight and Useful Field of View. The percentage of subjects with inadequate correction of their refractive
error is high and about equal in all age groups. Driving habits: even the highest age group reported frequent driving, often
outside their own country and driving many kilometers per year.
Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that there are quite a number of subjects that do not meet the current European
standards on visual acuity and visual field, particularly in the highest age groups. The requirements on visual acuity could
be met in the majority of cases if refractive errors were adequately corrected. In all age groups, acuity can be improved
in a significant number of subjects by optimization of correction of refractive errors, although in the younger groups, the
majority of subjects, even with their (sub-optimal) habitual driving correction, still meet the current standards. Our findings
regarding high prevalence of impaired contrast sensitivity straylight sensitivity and Useful Field of View in elderly drivers
suggest a potential role for these parameters in traffic legislation. For such role, a better understanding of cut-off values
would be necessary. Our results demonstrate that straylight sensitivity can be adequately measured in the majority of
subjects in a population study, facilitating future research into its relevance.
Funding sources: This study was supported by grant SUB-B27020B-E3-GLARE-2002-S07.18091 from the European
Commission. The Belgian part was supported and the Dutch part co-supported by Pearle BV. The German part was co-
supported by Vistech GmbH. In Barcelona, the RACC Automóvil Club supported the recruitment of (half of the) subjects.

Biography: René van Rijn is Ophthalmic Surgeon at the VU University Medical Center and the Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis
in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. His clinical fields of interest are glaucoma, pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus.
He has been involved in various European research projects into the visual function of European drivers. He has been
the chairman of the Eyesight Working Group, a group of European experts, preparing the eyesight paragraph of the 2009
revision of the European driving standards (2009/113/EC).

Margarita Vinnikov1, MSc.

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science1,
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3
University of Wollongong2
Robert S. Allison1 and Stephen Palmisano2
Steering with Simulated Symptoms of Age-related

Macular Degeneration
Purpose: Age-related macular degeneration AMD is a leading cause of blindness in ageing populations across the world.
The symptoms associated with later stages of the disease are sizeable blind spots (scotomas) in the central visual field,
which significantly impact all aspects of everyday life (including driving and navigation). In contrast, the early symptoms of
the disease include gradual reduction in acuity and visual distortion in the affected areas, also known as metamorphopsia.
There is limited research on the functional consequences of symptoms in the early stages of the disease.
Methods: We examined the effects of the following macular degeneration symptoms on gaze behavior and steering
performance: (i) horizontal distortions, (ii) Gaussian (both horizontal and vertical) distortions and (iii) central scotomas (iv)
unimpaired vision condition. To ensure repeatability, we studied healthy participants and used a gaze-contingent display
paradigm to simulate these visual deficiencies in real time. Driving was simulated at different speeds on two-lane curving
rural roads with various layouts.
Results: We predicted that gaze patterns and driving performance would be similar for the visual distortion and scotoma
conditions and distinct from conditions with no simulated visual deficiency. As expected, several deficits in driver
performance were observed during simulated macular degeneration conditions. While gaze was reliably directed to
nearer scene features during the Gaussian distortion and scotoma trials (compared to unimpaired trials), variability
in lateral gaze did not differ (suggesting that information from the peripheral visual field was used to compensate for
information that would have normally been available from the central visual field). Based on past findings, we also
expected people to direct their gaze more towards the inner side of the curve. However, on a significant number of turns,
we observed that people often preferred to look at outer curve instead (e.g. on average, this occurred about 5% more often
in macular degeneration trials than in the unimpaired trials).
Conclusions: Simulated symptoms of early stage Macular Degeneration impacted steering and gaze behaviour. We are
currently looking at gaze pattern signatures for each condition and correlating these with driving performance. In our
future research we would like to examine collision avoidance strategies associated with different stages of the disease.
Funding Sources: Endeavour Fellowship (Australia); Province of Ontario ORF/RE (CIV/DDD)
Biography: Margarita Vinnikov is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science, York University, Toronto. She works in the Virtual Reality and Perception Laboratory under supervision of Dr.
Robert S. Allison. In 2006, she completed an Honours B.Sc. Specialized in Computer Science and in 2009, she completed
M.Sc. Computer Science. Her research interest is in gaze-contingent real-time simulations of impaired vision.

Joanne M. Wood, PhD

School of Optometry and Vision Science
Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation
Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove Q 4059
The Impact of Visual Impairment Resulting from Refractive

Blur on Driving Performance
Context: Uncorrected refractive error is the leading cause of reversible visual impairment in adults over the age of 40
years, with the prevalence of refractive visual impairment increasing with age. Large numbers of individuals drive with
uncorrected refractive errors, which account for 80% of drivers whose vision fails to meet the legal limit for driving.
Importantly, the effect of different levels of refractive blur on driving performance and ability are largely unknown.
Objectives: To investigate the effect of different levels of refractive blur on real world driving performance measured under
day and night-time conditions.
Design and Setting: In study 1, driving performance was measured on a closed road circuit during two sessions (day
and night-time) with participants wearing four different levels of binocular spherical refractive blur; the order of testing
was randomized. Driving performance measures included road signs recognized, hazard detection, gap judgment, lane-
keeping, sign recognition distance and time to complete the course. The effects of blur under night-time conditions were
further explored in study 2, where pedestrian recognition was determined for the same levels of binocular blur as study
1. Pedestrians wore one of three clothing conditions: everyday clothing, retroreflective vest and retroreflective tape
positioned on the extremities in a configuration that conveyed biological motion (known as “biomotion”); pedestrian
recognition distances were measured for all blur and clothing combinations.
Participants: The sample for the first study included 12 young adults (M=25.6±5.2 years). In the second study, a separate
sample of 12 young (M=24.9±4.5 years) and 12 older adults (M=77.6±5.5 years) were tested. All participants were licensed
drivers and met the visual requirements for licensing in Australia of binocular visual acuity of 20/40.
Results: Study 1 demonstrated that blur and time of day had significant effects on driving performance (p<0.05) and there
was also a significant interaction between blur and time of day, where the effects of blur were exacerbated under night-
time conditions, with significant performance differences even for +0.50 DS blur relative to baseline. In study 2, refractive
blur as well as clothing had a significant effect on pedestrian recognition and there was a significant two-way interaction
between these factors. Pedestrian recognition distances were significantly reduced by all levels of blur compared to
baseline and pedestrians wearing “biomotion” clothing were most recognizable.
Conclusions: The effects of blur were greatest under night-time conditions, even for levels of binocular refractive blur as
low as +0.50 DS. These results emphasize the importance of accurate and up-to-date refractive correction of even low
levels of myopic refractive errors when driving at night.
Biography: Joanne Wood is a Professor in the School of Optometry and Vision Science and Institute of Health and
Biomedical Innovation at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. She completed undergraduate
studies in Optometry and a PhD in visual field investigation at Aston University, in the UK. Joanne held a post doctoral
position at Oxford University, before joining the School of Optometry, Queensland University of Technology, Australia where
she has been since 1989. The main focus of Joanne’s research over the last fifteen years has been in investigating the
impact of vision and aging on driving performance and the results of this research have been published in a wide range of
international journals.

THE EYE, THE BRAIN AND THE AUTO POSTER PRESENTER LIST
(in alphabetical order)
El bahi, Amel Mohamed, PhD Winterbottom, Marc, MS

Tripoli University, Tripoli, Libya USAF School of Aerospace Medicine
Wright State University
Elgin, Jennifer, OTR/L, CDRS 2510 Fifth Street, Bldg. 840
Driving Assessment Clinic Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45066
Department of Ophthalmology Marc.winterbottom@wpafb.af.mil
School of Medicine
University of Alabama at Birmingham Wiseman, Jay, M. Photog. A_ASP
Birmingham AL 35294-0009 USA 1608 E. Temple View Dr.
jenwells@uab.edu Bountiful, UT 84010 USA
fotowise@hotmail.com
He, Jibo, PhD
Assistant Professor Wood, Joanne, PhD
Wichita State University Professor, School of Optometry and Vision Science and
1845 Fairmount Street, Wichita, KS 67260 USA Institute of Health and Biomedical
Jibo.he@wichita.edu Innovation
Queensland University of Technology
Luo Gang, PhD Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove Q 4059
Schepens Eye Research Institute j.wood@gut.edu.au
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA USA 02114
Henry.mahnke@positscience.com
Mahncke, Henry, PhD, CEO

Posit Science
77 Geary Street, Suite 303
San Francisco, CA 94108
Henry.mahnke@positscience.com
Sheffield, Farrell, OTR/L,CDRS

Tri City Medical Center
Coordinator of the Good to Go Driver Rehab Program
4002 Vista Way, Oceanside, CA 92054
farrellsheffield@gmail.com
Tervo, Timo, MD, PhD

Professor
P.O. Box 220
Helsinki, Finland 00029 HUS
Timo.tervo@hus.fi

POSTER PRESENTERS
Amel Mohamed El bahi
Tripoli University
Tripoli, Libya
Awareness of Eye Related Disorders Among School Children and

Their Teachers in Tripoli-Libya
Amel El bahi1, Mohammed Yacoubi1, Ben ramdan Adel1
1
Tripoli University
Objective/Purpose: This paper reports for the first time in Libya of schoolchildren and their teachers on how they are
aware of healthy and diseased eyes, things that keep eyes healthy and damage them, and what actions to be taken in case
of an eye injury.
Materials/methods: A total of 124 were participate in this study, from three different school in Tripoli, A questionnaire were
distributed to all participant, Of this number, 92 were students ranging from primary school to secondary school (4th to 9th
grades), and 32 teachers who were currently teaching the selected students were interviewed one-on-one, the data was
analyzed by SPSS.
Results and Conclusion: most of children believe that healthy eyes those which could see well, and diseased eyes to be
those which have redness, itchy, and discharge. Among things that damage the eyes included dust, dirt, television, sun,
and sharp pointed objects. Teachers noted that children with eye problems “have problems in reading and writing”. The
majority of children and teachers indicated that they would “consult a doctor” if they injured their eyes. So we conclude
schoolchildren, and their teachers had good knowledge, but many of them do not know what to do, in case of eye injury.
Health education in schools must taken into account as well as the need of national screening programme.
Biography: Amel El Bahi is an Ophthalmic trainee at Tripoli Eye Hospital since 2012, she teaches ophthalmology for fourth
year medical students, which serves as faculty member at Tripoli Medical University. Before coming to Ophthalmic
specialty, Amel was a resident fellow at infectious medicine and was involved in infectious control programme since
graduating from medical school in 2011, also she has been an instructor for Optician students and been as supervisor for
numerous graduated optician projects. Now, Amel is planning to establish a Libyan young ophthalmologist for research
and education across the country.

POSTER PRESENTERS (continued)
Jennifer Elgin, OTR/L, CDRS

Driving Assessment Clinic
School of Medicine
Birmingham AL 35294-0009 USA
Self-Reported Driving Habits by Persons with

Central Vision Loss Who Use Bioptic Telescopes
1
Wood JM, McGwin G Jr, Elgin J, Searcey K, Owsley C. Characteristics of on-road driving
performance of persons with central vision loss who use bioptic telescopes. Investigative
Ophthalmology & Visual Science 2013; 54: 3790-3797.
2
Owsley C, Stalvey B, Wells J, Sloane ME. Older drivers and cataract: Driving habits and crash
risk. Journal of Gerontology Biologic Sciences Medical Sciences 1999; 54A: M203-M211.
Objective: Here we report on the driving habits of persons with central vision loss who use bioptic telescopes, as assessed
on a questionnaire. These self-reports will also be examined in light of their on-road driving performance, which was
previously reported.1
Method: Participants included 23 persons with visual acuity of 20/63 to 20/200 who were legally licensed to drive through
a state bioptic driving program, and 23 visually normal age-matched controls (mean age . 33 6 12 years). A questionnaire,
modified from a previously developed questionnaire,2 inquired about the following domains and was interviewed
administered by trained personnel: general driving information, driving exposure, how the bioptic is used, assistance from
passengers, driving difficulty in various situations,
Results: Questionnaire responses will be summarized, and when appropriate, comparisons between self-reports and on-
road driving performance will be made, as well as comparisons to normally sighted drivers.
Conclusion: Results will be discussed in terms of drivers’ perspectives on how they use bioptic telescopes when they
drive, the extent to which they rely on other passengers during driving, and the extent to which they have insight into their
driving challenges, if present.

Jibo He, PhD

Department of Psychology,
Wichita State University
1845 Fairmont St, Wichita, KS 67260
Driver Fatigue Detection Using a Webcam or a Smartphone

Brian Fields2, James Peng2, Steve Cielocha2, Julian Coltea3, Steve Roberson2
2
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.
3
University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign
Objective: Each year, driver fatigue causes about 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries, and $12.5 billion financial losses, according
to estimates by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, 2005). These traffic-related deaths and
financial losses encourage the development of technologies to mitigate the risks of driver fatigue. An advanced computer
vision technology utilizing a webcam, Android or iPhone smartphone to detect driver fatigue is proposed and implemented.
Methods: Three prototypes are implemented for the webcam + PC prototype, the Android smartphone and the iPhone.
A webcam or smartphone is mounted on the dashboard of a vehicle to capture driver images. The webcam sends
images to a laptop for image processing. The laptop runs the Python programming language and the OpenCV computer
vision framework. The Android version is programmed using the Java programming language and the OpenCV4Android
framework. The iPhone version is implemented using the Objective-C programming language and the OpenCV framework.
The technology detects driver fatigue by monitoring visual indicators of fatigue, such as, head nodding, head rotation, eye
blinks, and PERCLOS (Percent Eye Closed). The input image is first converted into gray image, and then resized to smaller
resolutions for faster computation. Next, the Haar-like feature using the AdaBoost algorithm is used to detect human face.
Then the eye is detected using the AdaBoost algorithm within the upper half region of the detected face. The center of
gravity is used to represent the face. When the vertical velocity of the face is larger than a threshold and the horizontal
velocity of the face, this event is treated as a head nodding. When the horizontal velocity is larger than a threshold and the
vertical velocity of the face, this event is treated as a head rotation. An eye blink is that when the percent of black pixels in
the eye area is smaller than a threshold. PERCLOS (Percent Eye Closed) is another important and frequently used indicator
of fatigue. PERCLOS is defined as the percent of time when the eyes are closed in a short time window (often 30s).
A drowsy driver produces more frequent head nodding, less head rotation, more frequent eye blinks, and larger PERCLOS.
When driver fatigue is detected, the system can play audial alert to wake up the driver.
Results: The iPhone and Android implementation of the technology can keep on monitoring driver fatigue for more than
four hours without charging. The sampling rate of the mobile prototype can reach about 5 ~8 Hz. This battery life and
sampling rate is enough to monitor driver fatigue for long distance on-road driving.
Conclusions: This research contributes to the effort to detect driver fatigue by providing a working prototype for real-time
fatigue detection using a webcam, Android or iPhone smartphone. This mobile technology has important applications in
reducing fatigue-related traffic accident and improving driving safety.
Biography: Dr. Jibo He is an Assistant Professor, at the Wichita State University, U.S.A. Jibo received his Bachelor of Science
in Psychology and Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Peking University in 2007, and a Master and PhD in Psychology from
the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign in 2010 and 2012. His research interests are in the area of Psychology with a
concentration of Human Factors, Driving Safety, Human Computer Interaction, Eye Movement, Attention, and Usability. Jibo is
the member of organizing committees of several leading conferences in his research field. He is also a member of American
Psychological Society, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Driving Assessment, Surface Transportation Technical
Group, and Society of Computers in Psychology etc. Jibo is also an enthusiastic developer and inventor.

Henry W. Mahncke, PhD

CEO
Posit Science Corporation
77 Geary St. Suite 303
San Francisco, CA 94108
Reduced Crash Rates in a Population of Older Automobile Insurance

Policyholders Using a Computer-based Visual Training Program
Henry W. Mahncke & Peter B. Delahunt
Posit Science Corporation, 77 Geary St., Suite 303, San Francisco, CA 94108
Objective: Useful Field of View (UFOV®) refers to the area of the visual field where one can extract information in a
brief glance. Previous studies have shown that reductions in UFOV increase automobile crash risk. It is also known that
UFOV performance can be improved using computer-based adaptive training. It was recently reported that UFOV training
reduced at-fault crash rates by almost 50% in the 5-year period following training. The overall goal of this study is to
investigate if these findings generalize to a large population of older automobile insurance policyholders who train at
home. Here we take an early look at the data to investigate initial trends.
Methods: Allstate Insurance partnered with Posit Science to offer the InSight visual training program to a subset of
members residing in Pennsylvania. InSight is a computer-based program developed based on findings from brain plasticity
research. The program improves the speed and accuracy of visual processing and expands visual attentional capacity. It
contains five exercises including an updated version of UFOV training designed in collaboration with Karlene Ball and Dan
Roenker, the original inventors of UFOV training. A mass mailing was sent to 100,000 Allstate automobile policyholders aged
50 and over. Approximately 8% requested the software and 51% of those receiving the software started the training (N =
4036, mean age 60.7, 54% male). Usage data was reported electronically to Posit Science via the Internet. Insurance claim
history was obtained from Allstate records. Data from Posit Science and Allstate were matched and anonymised by a third
party for analysis. The post-training driving exposure period ranged from 1 to 9 months.
Results: Policyholders who requested the software had higher crash rates than age-matched policyholders who did not
request the software. Participants got better at the training tasks, with improvement rates increasing with training time. A
trend for reduced crash rates was evident for participants who trained compared to those who requested the software but
did no training.
Conclusions: Policyholders who requested the software had higher crash rates than age-matched policyholders who did
not request the software suggesting self-selection based on awareness of increased crash risk. Participants got better
at the tasks with training indicating improved visual performance. Most importantly this early look at the data indicates a
reduction in crash rates for a population of older drivers who trained at home.

Farrell Sheffield, OTR/L,CDRS

Tri-City Medical Center
Coordinator of the Good to Go Driver Rehab Program
4002 Vista Way
Oceanside, CA 92054
Open Your Eyes to Driving

Objective: To inform about Driver Rehab evaluation basic components in a hospital setting and suggest resources to refer
drivers with medical issues, i.e. visual field deficit, brain injury.
A hospital-based driver rehab program can assess a driver’s ability to return to driving after an injury, medical event or
changes associated with aging. Family and/or physician may have concerns based on observations of the driver on the
road or when ambulating.
An occupational therapist who is certified as a driver rehab specialist can perform standardized clinic tests for cognitive-
visual processing, mobility and “rules of the road.” A clinic evaluation may include equipment such as a Dynavision
(Bioness), brake reaction timer ( Auto Club/ Advanced Therapy Products), Snellan chart, Optec (Stereo Optical Co Inc) for
binocular skills. The clinic results often identify areas of concern to be “red flagged” for the road evaluation.
The road evaluation in a dual control car can be performed to gradually add complexity for challenges and adjust route to
driver habits and ability. The dual control car allows the occupational therapist to intervene if necessary to ensure safety,
yet allow driver the opportunity to demonstrate ability in real time. The occupational therapist can determine driver rehab
potential such as for a driver with visual field cut, or need to avoid complex intersections or night driving.
The certified driver rehab specialist collaborates with the Department of Motor Vehicles/Motor Vehicle Authority to verify
license, apply for special instructional permit and forward driving evaluation recommendations to the referring physician
for decision to drive, defer, or seek further training.
Biography: Clinician as an occupational therapist since 1977 in hospital, inpatient/outpatient, home care, and optometry
clinic settings. Driver instructor training form California Driving School, Inc. and 2004 AOTA Driver/Driving Network
Coordinator.
Publications: OT Practice 10-03-05 Open Your Eyes to Driving: Older Drivers
OT Practice 10-26-09 Driving Rehab for Wounded Warriors

Timo Tervo, MD, PhD Professor

P.O. Box 220
Helsinki, Finland 00029 HUS
Driver’s Disease and Speeding as a Cause of Fatal Traffic

Accidents in Finland
Timo Tervo1, Timo Jaakkola2, Tapio Koisaari3 and Kalle Parkkari3
Department of Ophthalmology, U. Helsinki1, The Finnish Traffic Police2,
and Finnish Motor Insurers’ Centre3, Finland
Purpose: To describe the proportion of the driver-related risk in fatal road accidents in Finland and the role and spectrum of
acute diseases in motor vehicle deaths.
Methods: The data is based on a study of in-depth investigated accidents in the Uusimaa area - recently published in
Traffic Inj Prev (2013;14.138-144) as well as the data representing the whole country of Finland in 2011 (237 fatal motor
vehicle accidents and 55 fatal pedestrian/bicyclist accidents). Finnish Motor Insurer’s Centre (FMIC) coordinates the road
accident investigation in Finland by law. The investigation is steered and supervised by the Road Accident Investigation
Delegation set up by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Currently, all fatal accidents are investigated by an
independent multidisciplinary investigation teams composed of police member, road- and vehicle specialists, medical
doctor and psychologist. The teams work for the interest of prevention of future accidents. The teams also have an access
the pre-crash medical data of the drivers involved and their autopsy results. Thus, it is possible to draw conclusions on
their fitness to drive at the time of the accident.
Results: During the years 2008-9, there were 488 fatal motor vehicle accidents (fMVAs) in Finland. Seventy three of them
were recorded in Uusimaa. In the whole country 55 (11%) driver’s deaths were caused by a disease attack, but in Uusimaa
as much as 25% (18/73). Disease attacks most frequently occurred in individuals with multiple diseases - most often in
the circulatory system. Cardiac and neurological diseases were by far the most common cause of deaths. Eye problems
were not found to be the primary risk in any accident but appeared as a background reason in 11/488 accidents. Speeding
accidents (10 km/h or more, velocity data available) accounted for 174 of 488 accidents. Alcohol/drugs/medicine was
present in 35, 6 % of speeding accidents.
When the statistics of the whole country in 2011 (237 fMVAs) were studied, there was a risk related to the state of the
driver in 162 (68%) of all FMVAs. Speed (over the speed limit or too high for the circumstances) was a risk in 99 (42 %) of
the accidents. Seventy two (73 %) of the speed-related accidents showed also a risk related to the state of the driver.
Suicides/intentional action explained 11 % of all fMVAs in 2011 and 39 % (19/49) of accidents between a passenger car and
a truck. Most countries remove both disease attacks and suicide accidents from their official accident statistics. In many
cases psychiatric problems were evident in the past history of the suicide drivers. Observational failures were recorded in
36 (15%) cases, visual problem was registered in 2 of them, one was a comorbid 72-year-old diabetic female and the other
83 year old male, who suffered from cardiac disease, cataract and night vision problems. Neither was a clear vision case.
Conclusion: A risk related to the state of the driver is a major contribution of FMVAs. Speeding is of-ten connected with
other risk factors (alcohol etc). Disease attacks and intentional action are examples of a strong single contributing factor.
Manipulation of statistics by removing suicides or disease attacks does not promote traffic safety or the control of fitness
to drive and may contribute to skewed medical requirements such as overemphasis of visual requirements on the expense

of liberal attitude towards major disease and comorbidity. Cardiac diseases, dementia, psychiatric conditions, diabetes
and neurological diseases were much more frequently involved than visual problems. Known alcohol or drug abuse is also
a traffic risk.
Funding sources: Finnish Motor Insurer’s Centre, Scientific fund.
Biography: Timo Tervo, MD, PhD is professor of Applied Clinical Ophthalmology in Helsinki University Eye Hospital, also
responsible of the teaching of traffic medicine. He also serves as an accident investigator in Uusimaa region. He became
MD in Helsinki University, did his PhD in the Department of Anatomy, U. Helsinki, where he acted as assistant professor
1978-1983. He reached the speciality in Ophthalmology in 1983 in Helsinki University, became assistant professor in 1986
and professor in 2000. In 2001 he was boarded in traffic medicine and started his career in traffic investigation. Dr. Tervo’s
research is focused in corneal nerves, ocular pain, wound healing, refractive surgery, diving- and traffic medicine. He has
received two prizes for advancing road safety.

Marc Winterbottom, MS
Research Psychologist
USAF School of Aerospace Medicine; Wright State University
2510 Fifth Street, Bldg 840
Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, USA, 45066
Operational Based Vision Assessment: Contrast and

Motion Sensitivity
Marc Winterbottom, 1James Gaska, 1John Gooch, 2Luke Wilkins, and 2Rob Gray
1
USAFSAM Aerospace Ophthalmology Branch, WPAFB, OH; 2University of Birmingham,

1
Birmingham, U.K.
Objective: The objective of Operational Based Vision Assessment (OBVA) is to generate data necessary to predict
aircrew operational task performance based on vision screening tests. Although the focus for the USAF is on aircrew
performance, we are also applying these methods to other occupations and tasks through our academic, international,
and industry partners. Operationally/occupationally validated vision screening is important for justification of pilot
selection and retention decisions, driver licensing, and for other occupations due to recent court decisions (e.g. U.K.
Disability Discrimination Act, 2004). The objectives of the present study were: 1) establish a relationship between contrast
sensitivity, which is not currently a standard test, and operational task performance; and 2) establish the feasibility of using
clinically-based tests of motion sensitivity to predict task performance.
Methods: Experiment 1. Six observers were asked to determine if an F-15 aircraft was facing toward or away from their
own simulated point of view as the distance and atmospheric conditions (i.e. size and contrast) varied. F-15 targets were
presented using a Sony SRX-S110 8-megapixel projector against a sky background. Observers’ Snellen acuity and contrast
sensitivity was estimated using standard Snellen acuity and Rabin low contrast vision charts (20/25 and 20/50). Experiment
2. Tests designed to assess sensitivity to motion in depth (MID) and motion-defined form (a motion-defined letter, or MDL)
were administered to 120 observers to evaluate the feasibility of the use of these tests. Experiment 3. Seventy- six younger
drivers completed the two motion perception tests (MID, MDL) and two simulated driving tests: a car-following braking
task (FB) and an emergency braking task (EB, i.e. simple reaction time).
Results: Experiment 1. Snellen acuities ranged from 20/11 to 20/17, while contrast sensitivity varied more widely. Snellen
acuity and letter contrast sensitivity were highly correlated with aircraft aspect recognition performance (r = 0.93, 0.95,
and 0.9). Computing the area under the contrast sensitivity curve and the aircraft recognition task performance and
evaluating the correlation resulted in a high correlation (r = 0.97). Experiment 2. MID and MDL scores were normally
distributed and both resulted in a roughly 4 to 1 range of performance across the 120 observers. Test-retest correlations
were 0.56, and 0.71 for MDL and MID, respectively. Notably, the correlation between the two tests was not significant
(r=0.04). Experiment 3: MID scores were significantly correlated with EB and FB performance (r= 0.41, 0.48). MDL was also
correlated with EB performance ( r=0.31).
Conclusions: Contrast sensitivity has been proposed to be a more diagnostic measure of visual health and potentially more
predictive of relevant task performance. The use of high fidelity simulation techniques described in the present study
resulted in a high correlation between clinical and operational performance. Although motion sensitivity has also been
proposed as a useful diagnostic test, very few previous experiments have used tests of motion-in-depth or motion-defined
form. The results presented here suggest that contrast and motion sensitivity should be considered for use as standard
screening tests and are predictive of both aircrew and driver performance.
Biography: Marc Winterbottom received his MS degree in Human Factors Psychology from Wright State University in 2000,
and is currently pursuing his PhD. He is a Research Psychologist for the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine Operational
Based Vision Assessment (OBVA) Laboratory.
Jay Wiseman, M. Photog., A-ASP

1608 E Temple View Dr.
Bountiful, Utah 84010 USA
A Traffic Signal System Designed for the Color Deficient

Purpose: ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) lights are traffic signal lights designed to allow color deficient drivers to
immediately recognize without confusion traffic signal lights. Using specially designed traffic lights to alleviate confusion
for the color deficient drivers at the intersection environment who have a difficulty ascertaining the proper recognition and
response for the traffic light being energized.
Methods: Using a double blind testing with a computer designed program to test reaction times and accuracy using
specifically designed traffic lights for all drivers against the existing traffic light designs. Also testing in the field using
specially designed lights with patterns to ascertain distances from which the light’s patterns were discernible.
Results: The specially designed lights for color deficient drivers were beneficial to all drivers and not just the color
deficient drivers.
Conclusion: ADA lights designed for color deficient drivers not only meet their objective but surprisingly offer many other
benefits for all drivers adding up to stupendous savings for the American public in terms of life saving, injury saving,
property damage saving, time saving, insurance saving, material saving and energy saving.
Biography: Born December 23, 1952 Salt Lake City, Utah

-1965 Awarded Eagle Scout (one of the youngest awarded in the world being only 13 yrs old.)
-1967 Student body officer at Midvale Jr. High; helped organized and operate a musical group hiring out for dances and
entertainment. Played trumpet solo for the Worldwide Scout Jamboree held at Lagoon in Layton Utah (over 50,000 in
attendance from around the world with TV coverage.)
-1971 Graduated Hillcrest High School - Lettered in football, wrestling, and track. Received highest award in district level
music competition playing the trumpet. Band, Orchestra, Marching Band, Jazz Band. Took first place in DECA (Distributing
Marketing Education) Statewide competition and played the trumpet for part of the graduating exercises.
-1971-1972 Utah State University Skipped two years through competency testing, taught fencing, and taught advanced
snow skiing at the University.
-1972-1974 Served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Finland. Spoke Finnish well enough to be
considered a native. Also learned some Swedish as Finland is bilingual on the coasts.
-1974-1977 University Utah (Accounting, Math, Physical Education, languages (skipped two years of Finnish through
competency testing) and Spanish.
-1976-1989 worked for A&T Heating and Air Conditioning as estimator designer.
Married June 25, 1977 Salt Lake City Temple; Wife-Barbara Helen Taylor, Children-Jill Reva and Steve Jay.
-1985 started JB&W Corp. -1989 Owner operator of JB& W a mechanical design build heating, air conditioning and
plumbing contractor.
-1989 Awarded degree of Master of Photography by Professional Photographers of America (an International Organization)
setting world records of attainment in the process.
-1991/2 Awarded Best in the World “Gold Medallion” or “Best of the Best” by American Society of Photographers in a
worldwide photo competition amongst all of the Masters of Photography. Received numerous other world class awards
from Kodak, Fuji, and Professional Photographers of America including inclusion in Kodak’s “Image way of the World’s

Greatest Photographs” exhibit at the Epcot Center. Several images inducted into the International Photography Hall of
Fame in Oklahoma.
-1993-2005 Developed Pinnacle Park an Industrial Park and improved (personally) the land, built the buildings and managed
them as landlord on Taylor Way North Salt Lake City, Utah.
Judged the Utah State Fair over 12 years.
-2012 received U.S. Patent No.: 8,154,423 TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM (traffic signal lights designed for the color deficient
and normal vision) taking ten years to accomplish.
-2012 EPA certified as EPA Indoor Air Quality Technician, EPA Clean Air Section 609, 608 for all refrigerants.
-Present: Working towards implementing ADA Traffic Lights. Authoring several books including two Christmas books. One
dealing with the “Wise men” of the Nativity because of namesake. Resides in Bountiful, Utah with wife.

Joanne Wood, PhD

Professor, School of Optometry and Vision Science and Institute of Health
and Biomedical Innovation
Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove Q 4059
Effects of Auditory Satellite Navigation Instructions and Visual Blur

on Road Hazard Perception
Lacherez, P., Virupaksha, S., Wood, J.M., Collins, M.J.
Objectives: Driver distraction has been repeatedly highlighted as a major cause of motor vehicle crashes and will become
more problematic in the future as the in-car environment increases in complexity. Previous studies investigating auditory
distraction have, however, tended to focus on mobile phone use and conversation. In this study we investigated whether
auditory satellite navigation instructions would similarly create interference while undertaking the Hazard Perception Test
which is a driving-related task that has been shown to be related to crash risk. In addition, we investigated whether such
interference was greater in the presence of simulated visual impairment, given previous findings that visual impairment
can alter people’s ability to effectively divide their attention.
Methods: Twenty young participants (mean age of 29.4±3.2) who had prior driving experience and a current driving license,
completed a validated video-based Hazard Perception Test, which involved responding to potential hazards within traffic
scenes by touching the location of the hazard on a computer touch screen. Participants completed the HPT test wearing
three different levels of binocular spherical refractive blur (+0.50 D, +1.00 D, +2.00 D) compared to a baseline condition
(optimal correction), with half of the presented scenes including auditory satellite navigation instructions as a simulated
auditory distracter; the testing order was randomized.
Results: Reaction times to hazards increased significantly with increasing blur. Participants were significantly slower
in reacting to hazards for the +1.00 D and +2.00 D blur conditions compared to the no blur condition. There was also a
significant increase in reaction times to hazards in the presence of the auditory satellite navigation instructions. The
combined effect of blur and auditory instructions was additive, with worst performance being recorded in the presence of
both blur and auditory instructions.
Conclusions: Attending to satellite navigation instructions, as well as viewing in the presence of visual blur, can both
(independently and additively) increase visual response time to road hazards. This may have important implications for
the use of satellite navigation devices particularly for older participants or those whose attentional resources may be
compromised. Further research is necessary to establish whether these effects are exacerbated in old age.
Biography: Philippe Lacherez is a post-doctoral fellow in the School of Optometry and Vision Science, QUT. He completed
his PhD in perceptual psychology at the University of Queensland, Australia. The main focus of Philippe’s research is the
interaction of cognitive and sensory factors in visually guided behaviour including driving.

BARTIMAEUS AWARD RECIPIENTS
2003-2011
The Bartimaeus Award is presented to an investigator who has distinguished
himself or herself by prolonged substantial contributions to the progress in
the field of The Eye and The Auto and The Eye, The Brain & The Auto.
Cynthia Owsley, PhD

School of Medicine
Birmingham, AL
Leonard Evans, PhD

President, Science Serving Society
Bloomfield Hills, MI
Joanne Wood, PhD

Professor, School of Optometry &
Vision Science and Institute of Health & Biomedical Innovation
Australia
Gerald McGwin, MS, PhD

Vice Chairman & Professor of Epidemiology
School of Public Health
Birmingham, AL

The Henry Ford Department of Ophthalmology and
the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology graciously
acknowledge and thank the educational
support of this meeting provided by:
SIGNATURE SUPPORTER
LEADERSHIP SUPPORTER
PIONEER SUPPORTER
PARTNER
Bartimaeus Dinner Sponsor

Coming in 2014
The Eye and The Chip
World Congress on Artificial Vision
September 28-30, 2014
Contact: The Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology

For information 313-824-4710
NOTES

(313) 824-4710
HenryFord.com/TheEyeTheBrainTheAuto
82
96927

Adaptive Vehicle Lighting Visual Perform

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Adaptive Vehicle Lighting Visual Perform

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

T HE D ETROIT I NSTITUTE OF O PHTHALMOLOGY

A division of the Henry Ford Department of Ophthalmology

The Eye, The Brain & The Auto

SEPTEMBER 16 - 18, 2013

Payment Live Streaming $150 Check/Money Order

Credit Card Visa MasterCard Discover Am. Exp.

Name on Card (Type or Print)

Card Number Expiration Date CCV

WELCOME LETTER – PAUL EDWARDS MD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Live Streaming and Audio-Visual Services Provided by Dynasty Media Network.

The Eye, The Brain & The Auto

Paul A. Edwards, M.D., F.A.C.S.

The Eye, The Brain & The Auto 2

Philip C. Hessburg, M.D.

3 The Eye, The Brain & The Auto

As of June 2012, The Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology (DIO) is a division

Support for the Visually Impaired

Public & Professional Education

DIO Program Funding

HENRY FORD DEPARTMENT OF OPHTHALMOLOGY

The Eye, The Brain & The Auto 4

FACULTY/PLANNING COMMITTEE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT:

5 The Eye, The Brain & The Auto

Philip C Hessburg, MD Cynthia Owsley, PhD

Carolyn L. Barth, PhD

The Eye, The Brain & The Auto 6

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

7:00-8:00 Registration, Coffee and Continental Breakfast

8:00-8:15 WELCOME & INTRODUCTION

RISK AND RELIABILITY

9:15-9:45 What is Risk?

9:45-10:00 COFFEE BREAK

10:00-10:30 Benchmarking Cognitive Distraction in The Automobile

10:30-11:00 Cognitive Intervention and Mobility Outcomes in Older Adults

11:00-11:30 Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Traffic Risks and Criminality

11:30-12:00 Screening Driver’s Fatigue: A Parallel Singapore and Hungarian Study

7 The Eye, The Brain & The Auto

INTRODUCTION BY: Philip C. Hessburg, MD

2:00-2:30 Meta-analysis of Driver Distraction from Text Messaging and

2.30-3:00 A Continued Investigation into Secondary Task Alternatives: Purely

3:00-3:15 COFFEE BREAK

4:15-4:45 Adaptive Vehicle Lighting, Visual Performance and Safety

6:00-9:00 BARTIMAEUS DINNER

The Eye, The Brain & The Auto 8

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

7:00-8:00 Registration, Coffee and Continental Breakfast

VISION IMPAIRMENT AND DRIVING

8:00-8:30 Prevalence of Impairments of Visual Function in Relation to Driving Habits in

9:30-9:45 COFFEE BREAK

9:45-10:15 Glare’s Causes and Consequences: Perception and Misperceptions

10:15-10:45 Misperceptions about Night Vision by Drivers and Pedestrians

10:45-11:15 Characteristics of On-Road Driving by Persons with Central Vision Loss

9 The Eye, The Brain & The Auto

1:15-2:15 KEYNOTE LECTURE: Human Machine Interface

INTRODUCTION BY: Steve Hung, PhD

AGING AND DRIVING

2:15-2:45 Steering with Simulated Symptoms of Age-related Macular Degeneration

2:45-3:00 COFFEE BREAK

4:30-5:00 Has the Time Come for an Older Driver Vehicle?

5:00-7:00 POSTER SESSION AND RECEPTION

Driver Fatigue Detection Using a Webcam or a Smartphone

The Eye, The Brain & The Auto 10

Driving Hazard Detection with a Bioptic Telescope

Reduced Crash Rates in a Population of Older Automobile Insurance Policyholders Using a

s (OWMIGHTDRIVERLESSCONNECTEDCOORDINATEDANDSHAREDVEHICLESIMPACTOURLIVES