VISUAL FUNCTION AND SAFE DRIVING AMONG DRIVERS IN KAKAMEGA, KENYA

Mark Benesia, Rono Kipkemboi, Brian Ajode

Abstract


Vision and driving were first related in early 1967. Many countries did not adopt vision tests as a requirement for driving since road traffic accidents were said to be due to poor infrastructure and intoxication. Improvement to the latter brought forth little change. Vision tests were then adopted as a requirement for driving, and visual acuity was the ubiquitous visual test. Visual acuity alone is not a good measure of how well or safely a person can drive; hence, there is a need for a more compressive test. Only 28 countries worldwide have adopted a more compressive visual function test for drivers. This study evaluated the effects of visual function on safe driving among the driving population of Kakamega. The study determined the relationship between vision loss and road accidents among drivers, the prevalence of road traffic accidents, and the effects of visual function impairment on the affected drivers in Kakamega.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


visual acuity, drivers, road safety, road accidents, vision

Full Text:

PDF

References


Bekibele, C. O., Fawole, O. I., Bamgboye, A. E., Adekunle, L. V., Ajayi, R., & Baiyeroju, A. M. (2007). Prevalence of refractive error and attitude to spectacle use among drivers of public institutions in Ibadan, Nigeria. Annals of African Medicine, 6(1), 26–30. https://doi.org/10.4103/1596-3519.55734

Black, A. A., Wood, J. M., Colorado, L. H., & Collins, M. J. (2019). The impact of uncorrected astigmatism on night driving performance. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics, 39(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/opo.12634

Boadi-Kusi, S. B., Kyei, S., Asare, F. A., Owusu-Ansah, A., Awuah, A., & Darko-Takyi, C. (2016). Visual function among commercial vehicle drivers in the central region of Ghana. Journal of Optometry, 9(1), 54-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optom.2015.06.004

Budenz, D. L., Bandi, J. R., Barton, K., Nolan, W., Herndon, L., Whiteside-De Vos, J., Hay-Smith, G., Kim, H., & Tielsch, J. (2012). Blindness and visual impairment in an urban west African population: The Tema eye survey. Ophthalmology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2012.04.017

Congdon, N. (2004). Causes and Prevalence of Visual Impairment among Adults in the United States. Archives of Ophthalmology. https://doi.org/10.1001/archopht.122.4.477

Freeman, E. E., Muñoz, B., Turano, K. A., & West, S. K. (2006). Measures of visual function and their association with driving modification in older adults. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.05-0934

Haliza, A. M., Syah, M., & Norliza, M. F. (2010). Visual problems of new Malaysian drivers. Malaysian Family Physician.

Hills, B. L. (1980). Vision, visibility, and perception in driving. Perception, 9(2), 183–216. https://doi.org/10.1068/p090183

Karimurio, J., Kimani, K., Gichuhi, S., Marco, S., Nyaga, G., Wachira, J., & Ilako, D. (2008). Eye disease and visual impairment in Kibera and Dagoreti Divisions of Nairobi, Kenya. JOECSA 4(1)

Keeffe, J. E., Jin, C. F., Weih, L. M., McCarty, C. A., & Taylor, H. R. (2002). Vision impairment and older drivers: who’s driving? British journal of ophthalmology, 86(10), 1118-1121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjo.86.10.1118

Khairallah, M., Kahloun, R., Flaxman, S. R., Jonas, J. B., Keeffe, J., Leasher, J., Naidoo, K., Pesudovs, K., Price, H., White, R. A., Wong, T. Y., Resnikoff, S., Taylor, H. R., & Bourne, R. R. (2014). Prevalence and causes of vision loss in North Africa and the Middle East: 1990-2010. British Journal of Ophthalmology. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjophthalmol-2013-304068

Kimlin, J. A., Black, A. A., & Wood, J. M. (2017). Nighttime Driving in Older Adults: Effects of Glare and Association with Mesopic Visual Function. Investigative Opthalmology & Visual Science, 58(5), 2796. https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.16-21219

Kimlin, J. A., Black, A. A., & Wood, J. M. (2017). Nighttime driving in older adults: effects of glare and association with mesopic visual function. Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 58(5), 2796-2803.

Konlan, K. D., Doat, A. R., Mohammed, I., Amoah, R. M., Saah, J. A., Konlan, K. D., & Abdulai, J. A. (2020). Prevalence and pattern of road traffic accidents among commercial motorcyclists in the Central Tongu District, Ghana. The Scientific World Journal, 2020.

Kotecha, A., Spratt, A., & Viswanathan, A. (2008). Visual function and fitness to drive. In British Medical Bulletin (Vol. 87, Issue 1). https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldn028

Lijarcio, I., Useche, S. A., Llamazares, J., & Montoro, L. (2020). Are your eyes “on the road”? Findings from the 2019 national study on vision and driving safety in Spain. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(9). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17093195

Maberley, D. A. L., Hollands, H., Chuo, J., Tam, G., Konkal, J., Roesch, M., Veselinovic, A., Witzigmann, M., & Bassett, K. (2006). The prevalence of low vision and blindness in Canada. In Eye. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.eye.6701879

Ndegwa, L. K., Karimurio, J., Okelo, R. O., & Adala, H. S. (2006). Prevalence of visual impairment and blindness in a Nairobi urban population. In East African Medical Journal. https://doi.org/10.4314/eamj.v83i4.9418

Ngozi Charity Chidi-Egboka, O. (2015). Visual Function Test among Commercial Drivers in a North Central State of Nigeria. ICUS and Nursing Web Journal.

Nguyen, H., Di Tanna, G. L., Coxon, K., Brown, J., Ren, K., Ramke, J., Burton, M. J., Gordon, I., Zhang, J. H., Furtado, J. M., Mdala, S., Kitema, G. F., & Keay, L. (2020). Associations between vision impairment and driving and the effectiveness of vision-related interventions: Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open, 10(11). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040881

Nyamai, L. A. (2016). Prevalence, Knowledge, Attitude and Practice on Refractive error among Students attending Public High Schools in Nairobi County. Department of Ophthalmology.

Odero, W., Khayesi, M., & Heda, P. M. (2003). Road traffic injuries in Kenya: magnitude, causes and status of intervention. Injury Control and Safety Promotion, 10(1–2), 53–61. https://doi.org/10.1076/icsp.10.1.53.14103

Oladehinde, M. K., Adeoye, A. O., Adegbehingbe, B. O., & Onakoya, A. O. (2007). Visual functions of commercial drivers in relation to road accidents in Nigeria. Indian journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 11(2), 71. https://dx.doi.org/10.4103%2F0019-5278.34532

Owsley, C., & McGwin, G. (1999). Vision impairment and driving. In Survey of Ophthalmology (Vol. 43, Issue 6, pp. 535–550). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0039-6257(99)00035-1

Owsley, C., & McGwin, G. (2010). Vision and driving. In Vision Research (Vol. 50, Issue 23, pp. 2348–2361). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2010.05.021

Owsley, C., McGwin, G., & Searcey, K. (2013). A population-based examination of the visual and ophthalmological characteristics of licensed drivers aged 70 and older. Journals of Gerontology - Series A Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 68(5), 567–573. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/gls185

Pepple, G., & Adio, A. (2014). Visual function of drivers and its relationship to road traffic accidents in Urban Africa. SpringerPlus. https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-1801-3-47

Resnikoff, S., Pascolini, D., Mariotti, S. P., & Pokharel, G. P. (2008). Global magnitude of visual impairment caused by uncorrected refractive errors in 2004. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.07.041210

Schmidt-Daffy, M., Brandenburg, S., & Beliavski, A. (2013). Velocity, safety, or both? How do balance and strength of goal conflicts affect drivers’ behaviour, feelings and physiological responses? Accident Analysis and Prevention, 55, 90–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2013.02.030

Thorslund, B., & Strand, N. (2016). Vision measurability and its impact on safe driving: a literature review. Scandinavian Journal of Optometry and Visual Science. https://doi.org/10.5384/SJOVS.vol9i1p1

Van Rijn, L. J., Nischler, C., Michael, R., Heine, C., Coeckelbergh, T., Wilhelm, H., Grabner, G., Barraquer, R. I., & Van Den Berg, T. J. T. P. (2011). Prevalence of impairment of visual function in European drivers. Acta Ophthalmologica. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-3768.2009.01640.x

Vitale, S., Cotch, M. F., & Sperduto, R. D. (2006). Prevalence of visual impairment in the United States. Journal of the American Medical Association. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.295.18.2158

Whitfield, R., Schwab, L., Ross-Degnan, D., Steinkuller, P., & Swartwood, J. (1990). Blindness and eye disease in Kenya: Ocular status survey results from the Kenya Rural Blindness Prevention Project. British Journal of Ophthalmology. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjo.74.6.333




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejphs.v7i1.170

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2024 Mark Benesia, Rono Kipkemboi, Brian Ajode

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright © 2019 - 2026. European Journal of Public Health Studies (ISSN 2668-1056/ISSN-L 2668-1056) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library. All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and standards formulated by Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002), the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (2003) and Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003) and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyrights of the published research works are retained by authors.