Road Test Takes Elderly Motorists For A Virtual Spin Experiment Explores Why Older Drivers Are Accident-Prone

A virtual reality road test takes elderly drivers on a simulated spin through city and country as part of an experiment to help determine why seniors are so often involved in accidents.

Senior citizens seated in front of a computer screen “drive” through a cartoon scene in which cars cut across the street, pedestrians appear suddenly and stop signs and trees flash by.

From the simulation, scientists hope to develop a research model of how brain and motor skills work together. The goal is to devise driver training and engineering designs to improve road safety,

“We’re trying to break down the system to find where the weak spots are,” said Charles Fox, assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.

The test, developed by University of Maryland researchers, was discussed Sunday during a seminar sponsored by Research to Prevent Blindness, a voluntary organization that supports eye research.

The seminar focused on the aging eye and on treating diseases that can rob older Americans of their ability to see - and drive.

Car accidents are a leading cause of injury-related deaths among Americans 65 and older, who by the year 2000 will make up 28 percent of the nation’s drivers.

In the last 10 years, the rate of fatal accidents among the elderly has increased 25 percent while the rate of accidents among another at-risk group, teenagers, has fallen, Fox said.

Also discussed Sunday was a study that indicates sunlight exposure increases the incidence of cataracts in older people.

The preliminary results, based on a study of older residents of Salisbury, Md., show that for every 1 percent rise in the amount of ultraviolet-B rays that reach the eye, there is a 10 percent increase in the cataracts, or clouding of the lens of the eye.

No specific figures were given for the number of cataracts found in the study, which was based on the average annual exposure of the eye to the rays.

On another issue, eye researchers said several types of experimental treatments are showing early promise against the so-called “wet” form of age-related macular degeneration.

About 70,000 to 200,000 Americans each year suffer from the disease, in which excess blood vessels develop in the back of the eye behind the macula - the area used for reading and recognizing faces - then leak and starve the light-sensing part of the eye.

The treatments include radiation to destroy the leaky vessels; injecting light-sensitive dye into target cells and then using laser light to kill them; and surgically shifting the macula a few millimeters away from the damaged region to restore sight.