Thursday, August 25, 2016

80% of all crashes can be avoided with better vision skills.

Studies suggest up to 80% of all crashes can be avoided with better vision skills.

Our eyes are one of the most important safety features we have when driving. They allow us to position the vehicle, gauge our speed, see potential hazards and manoeuvre the vehicle.

About 90% of the information we use when driving is gathered by our vision. Other senses such as hearing, touch, feel, balance and smell provide the remaining information.

It is concerning then that Australian transport departments no longer test visual acuity when renewing licences.

Unfortunately we over-rely on one sense, a sense that does have limitations. The human body has never evolved to be able to drive a car. As such we still have the eyes and other senses of primitive man. The following sections outline the different limitations of human vision:

VISUAL FIELD

We have the widest range of vision (largest visual field) when stationary. Typically our primary vision is within 10° - 12° of our line of sight. But objects can be detected outside of this in our peripheral vision, 90° to the left and right, 60° above and 70° below our line of sight. This means when stationary we have a 180° horizontal visual field and a 130° vertical visual field.

At speed however our vision focuses automatically further ahead and thus the visual field reduces in all directions. At 100 km/h our horizontal visual field is only 40° (20° to the left and right of our line of sight).

Outside of the visual field we need stimulus to make us turn our head and look in that direction. A good stimulus could be movement relative to the background or a flashing or pulsating light or some other bright light.

This is one reason why our indicator lights flash, so they can be noticed and seen by other drivers even outside of their field of vision.

This is also a good case for the use of daytime running lights on vehicles, especially when driving at high speeds to make sure your being seen by other drivers.                                                                      
now you got the answer for your question. Why there are running light during day time on few cars?

                                                       

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