New Driving Exam Deals With Distractions

When it comes to safe driving, eyesight is an important element for older people. But a psychology professor’s research shows it may not be the only factor.

Elderly motorists’ visual attention--how they can focus on multiple things at once--is often a better predictor of whether they’re likely to crash, said Karlene Ball of Western Kentucky University.

“Most older drivers are fine, but there’s this small subset who have problems,” Ball said. “It’s not really fair to impose age restrictions on where people can drive and when. It has to be done individually.”

She and Cynthia Owsley, an ophthalmology professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, have developed a “useful field of view” test, which tells how much a driver can see in a brief glance.