Abstract
Purpose :
To assess night vision problems among drivers to aid in traffic safety. Night visual problems are risk factor in most of the high way fatalities hence measuring only visual acuity in our Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) is not enough. There is inadequate information on the various visual disturbances and complaints of drivers on the roads at night in Ghana. This research seeks to assess the visual problems encountered during night time driving in the Kumasi Metropolis in the Ashanti Region.
Methods :
Night driving difficulties were assessed cross- sectionally using questionnaire comprising of demographics and night driving behaviors and characteristics, night visual problems and a preexisting Night Driving Questionnaire (VND-Q) among 311 drivers in Kumasi metropolis. The participants’ aged, 20 to 72 years. Cross tabulations were used for age and gender of the participants with vision and night driving questionnaire (VND-Q) items used in assessing various difficulty levels. The statistical significance between age and gender with vision and night driving questionnaire (VND-Q) items were also analyzed using Pearson’s Chi-square.
Results :
Participants were mean ±SD age of 36.58±10.67 with more males (87.5%). Glare (40.8%) was the most prevalent night vision problem recorded in the metropolis. Most of the night driving difficulties correlated positively and significantly with age. The relationship between gender of participants and the difficulty levels in reading street signs (p =0.850), seeing the road because of oncoming headlight (p =0.599) and seeing because of glare when driving at dawn or dusk (p =0.193) were not statistically significant. Driving during poor weather and rainy condition (20.4%), causing a lot of difficulty when driving on the road. Most drivers (<50years) have no difficulty in seeing dark colored cars, reading street signs, seeing pedestrians and animals, judging distance between drivers, and other cars at night.
Conclusions :
Glare is the most occurring night visual problem with the highest prevalence for both male and female drivers among other night vision problems on the roads in the Kumasi metropolis. Due to night driving difficulties, among gender, men are 0.92 (CI 0.20-0.43) times more likely to drive at night than women. For traffic safety, simple tests for contrast and glare sensitivity should be reinforced as regular requirements for driving license issuance in Ghana.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.