Detection of vehicles on the other crossing path at an intersection: visual search performance of elderly drivers

At intersections with good visibility, such as those located in rice fields, relatively many fatal accidents involving elderly drivers happen in Japan. In the present study, the causative factor of these accidents was examined from the viewpoint of visual search performance. It was shown that a vehicle that is not on collision course can be easily detected by peripheral vision. No age related deterioration of the detection performance in the peripheral visual field was found. However, the detection of a vehicle on collision course in the peripheral visual field was more difficult for elderly drivers. No age difference in detection performance was found when drivers were allowed to actively search the road scene by central vision. It can be concluded that active checking of the periphery at intersections with good visibility is more important for elderly drivers than for young drivers.