The short-term effects of artificially-impaired binocular vision on driving performance

Rubén Molina, Beatríz Redondo, Leandro Luigi Di Stasi, Rosario G. Anera, Jesús Vera and Raimundo Jiménez.

Ergonomics, Pages 1-13

doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2020.1814427

Abstract

Appropriate visual function is paramount to ensuring adequate driving performance and road safety. Here, we examined the influence of sudden artificially-impaired binocular vision on driving performance using a car simulator. Twenty-four young drivers (mean age 22.42 ± 3.19 years) drove under three different visual conditions (natural driving, monocular blur, and monocular occlusion) through three different traffic environments with low, medium, and high levels of complexity (highway, rural, and city, respectively). We assessed their driving performance, perceived level of task complexity, and subjectively-experienced road safety. Furthermore, as a manipulation check, we also evaluated the drivers’ cardiac vagal responses, as a well-known index of task complexity. The sudden deterioration of binocular vision caused unsafe driving behaviours (distance out of the road and maximum breaking intensity) in the most complex traffic environments. Specific self-regulatory strategies (i.e. increased cardiac vagal responses) and subjective responses corroborated these results.