Gerontechnology and Rehabilitation Group, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Traffic Inj Prev. 2013;14(5):477-85. doi: 10.1080/15389588.2012.727510.
In this article, we review the impact of vision on older people's night driving abilities. Driving is the preferred and primary mode of transport for older people. It is a complex activity where intact vision is seminal for road safety. Night driving requires mesopic rather than scotopic vision, because there is always some light available when driving at night. Scotopic refers to night vision, photopic refers to vision under well-lit conditions, and mesopic vision is a combination of photopic and scotopic vision in low but not quite dark lighting situations. With increasing age, mesopic vision decreases and glare sensitivity increases, even in the absence of ocular diseases. Because of the increasing number of elderly drivers, more drivers are affected by night vision difficulties. Vision tests, which accurately predict night driving ability, are therefore of great interest.
We reviewed existing literature on age-related influences on vision and vision tests that correlate or predict night driving ability.
We identified several studies that investigated the relationship between vision tests and night driving. These studies found correlations between impaired mesopic vision or increased glare sensitivity and impaired night driving, but no correlation was found among other tests; for example, useful field of view or visual field. The correlation between photopic visual acuity, the most commonly used test when assessing elderly drivers, and night driving ability has not yet been fully clarified.
Photopic visual acuity alone is not a good predictor of night driving ability. Mesopic visual acuity and glare sensitivity seem relevant for night driving. Due to the small number of studies evaluating predictors for night driving ability, further research is needed.
本文综述了视力对老年人夜间驾驶能力的影响。驾驶是老年人首选和主要的交通方式。这是一项复杂的活动，完好的视力对道路安全至关重要。夜间驾驶需要中值视觉而不是暗视觉，因为夜间驾驶时总是有一些光线。暗视觉是指夜间视力，明视觉是指在光线充足的情况下的视力，而中值视觉是低光照但不完全黑暗的情况下明视觉和暗视觉的结合。随着年龄的增长，中值视觉下降，眩光敏感度增加，即使在没有眼部疾病的情况下也是如此。由于老年司机数量的增加，更多的司机受到夜间视力困难的影响。因此，能够准确预测夜间驾驶能力的视力测试引起了极大的兴趣。
我们回顾了与年龄相关的视力影响以及与夜间驾驶能力相关或预测夜间驾驶能力的视力测试的现有文献。
我们确定了几项研究调查了视力测试与夜间驾驶之间的关系。这些研究发现，中值视觉受损或眩光敏感度增加与夜间驾驶能力受损之间存在相关性，但在其他测试（例如有用视野或视野）中未发现相关性。评估老年司机时最常用的测试——明视觉视敏度与夜间驾驶能力之间的相关性尚未完全阐明。
明视觉视敏度本身并不是夜间驾驶能力的良好预测指标。中值视觉敏锐度和眩光敏感度似乎与夜间驾驶有关。由于评估夜间驾驶能力预测因素的研究数量较少，因此需要进一步研究。
