Welfare can be conceptualized as individuals´ opportunities to shape their lives according to their own wants and needs, concerning living conditions such as work, income, housing, social activities, leisure, and health (OECD, 2013). Transport generates opportunities and limitations for individuals and groups to access activities associated with welfare creation (Dodson et al., 2004). For many people, everyday activities must be conducted over a geographically spread-out landscape whose settlement patterns are adapted to a road network for car traffic, which limits access to activities by other transport modes (Hine and Grieco, 2003). In many western societies, this is explained by the long-term development of car-oriented land-use and infrastructure configurations (Jones, 2011). Accordingly, earlier transportation research stressed that the great “accessibility divide” usually lies between those who can and cannot access car transport (Lucas, 2012).
Driving a car is inarguably a highly visual task. Countries all over the world have therefore set visual requirements for holding a driver’s license that usually includes minimum visual acuity and visual field. For example, the relationship between visual field loss (VFL) and driving is however far from clear. Some studies have shown that drivers with VFL are more unsafe, others have failed to show any correlation. Comparing results is also complicated as definitions of both VFL and safe driving vary across studies. Two major outcomes are used in research on driving, safety, and performance. Safety is defined by adverse events, typically collisions. Performance refers to driver behavior when maneuvering the vehicle. Both aspects may also be tested either on-road or in a simulator. On-road driving is obviously more authentic but might have difficulties to test hazardous situations. Simulator testing on the other hand makes it possible to test performance under standardized conditions. It is, however, not yet possible to create a perfect imitation of reality, and simulators might also generate simulator sickness. In the absence of a strong correlation between visual functions and driving, the ultimate method and cut-off values for vision testing in licensing issues remain to be discovered.
However, based on the understanding of the importance of a driving license for the individual, we also need to consider the welfare of others, i.e., society needs to understand who the safe drivers and the unsafe drivers are. This Research Topic calls for submissions that cover studies that focus on individuals with visual impairments (such as visual field loss or other vision deficits, for example) and driving ability (driving of different kinds of vehicles, driven more or less autonomous). In addition, we welcome insights from basic research and other domains that can contribute to the development of an understanding of adaptation or compensation abilities due to visual impairments. Submissions can be any article type that covers behavioral approaches to investigate visual, cognitive mechanisms in actively behaving road users, either in virtual reality, driving simulator, or field settings.
Welfare can be conceptualized as individuals´ opportunities to shape their lives according to their own wants and needs, concerning living conditions such as work, income, housing, social activities, leisure, and health (OECD, 2013). Transport generates opportunities and limitations for individuals and groups to access activities associated with welfare creation (Dodson et al., 2004). For many people, everyday activities must be conducted over a geographically spread-out landscape whose settlement patterns are adapted to a road network for car traffic, which limits access to activities by other transport modes (Hine and Grieco, 2003). In many western societies, this is explained by the long-term development of car-oriented land-use and infrastructure configurations (Jones, 2011). Accordingly, earlier transportation research stressed that the great “accessibility divide” usually lies between those who can and cannot access car transport (Lucas, 2012).
Driving a car is inarguably a highly visual task. Countries all over the world have therefore set visual requirements for holding a driver’s license that usually includes minimum visual acuity and visual field. For example, the relationship between visual field loss (VFL) and driving is however far from clear. Some studies have shown that drivers with VFL are more unsafe, others have failed to show any correlation. Comparing results is also complicated as definitions of both VFL and safe driving vary across studies. Two major outcomes are used in research on driving, safety, and performance. Safety is defined by adverse events, typically collisions. Performance refers to driver behavior when maneuvering the vehicle. Both aspects may also be tested either on-road or in a simulator. On-road driving is obviously more authentic but might have difficulties to test hazardous situations. Simulator testing on the other hand makes it possible to test performance under standardized conditions. It is, however, not yet possible to create a perfect imitation of reality, and simulators might also generate simulator sickness. In the absence of a strong correlation between visual functions and driving, the ultimate method and cut-off values for vision testing in licensing issues remain to be discovered.
However, based on the understanding of the importance of a driving license for the individual, we also need to consider the welfare of others, i.e., society needs to understand who the safe drivers and the unsafe drivers are. This Research Topic calls for submissions that cover studies that focus on individuals with visual impairments (such as visual field loss or other vision deficits, for example) and driving ability (driving of different kinds of vehicles, driven more or less autonomous). In addition, we welcome insights from basic research and other domains that can contribute to the development of an understanding of adaptation or compensation abilities due to visual impairments. Submissions can be any article type that covers behavioral approaches to investigate visual, cognitive mechanisms in actively behaving road users, either in virtual reality, driving simulator, or field settings.