Visual Capability of Older Drivers and Their Driving Skills – Situations in Japan

This paper describes how private vehicles are increasingly playing a greater role in ensuring the mobility of elderly people. The main reason for this is the aging of the generation holding drivers’ licenses. An increase in the number of older drivers is inevitable as a generation with driving experience ages. Traffic accidents involving older drivers have been rapidly increasing and this paper describes some of the reasons, such as 1) public transportation facilities have many barriers; 2) the absence of alternative means of transport other than cars; and 3) the failure of the licensing system to take into consideration the reduced aptitude for driving associated with aging. Developments toward the complete resolution of these problems in an effort to ensure the mobility of elderly people and safety mobility have been studied. In this study, interviews with older drivers were carried out to determine what was needed to secure their safety from the viewpoint that private vehicles play a greater role than public transportation in ensuring the mobility of independent elderly people. And the visually capability data used in this study were collected from young and elderly persons. As a result, it is cleared that older drivers preferred driving in bright conditions and an environment with clear visual contrast and required longer recognition and judgment time, their reduced agility due to aging can be compensated for to a certain extent by improving road and vehicle conditions. In this study, it is considered about driving environment for older drivers and their background in situations in Japan. It is also considered about safety mobility for elderly and relations of public transportations in Japanese case