new definitions of kinetic visuAl Acuity And kinetic visuAl field And their Aging effects

In recent years, senior citizens account for over 50% of all traffic fatalities, and accident location analysis reveals that over 50% of fatal traffic accidents occur at intersections. One conceivable reason for the high rate of fatal traffic accidents at intersections and in their vicinities, and the high percentage of senior citizen deaths, is their relationship with basic vision properties, kinetic visual acuity and kinetic visual field recognition properties. Kinetic visual acuity is the ability to identify moving objects. The ability to identify objects moving horizontally or vertically is called dynamic visual acuity (DVA)1, 2, while the ability to identify approaching objects is called kinetic visual acuity (KVA)3, 4. In sports such as baseball that involve many horizontal and vertical movements, DVA is often used. When driving an automobile, however, drivers often must recognize signs moving forward and backward, requiring the use of KVA for traffic safety. In Western countries, visual acuity for moving objects is uniformly referred to as DVA. KVA is a concept introduced by Japan. Traffic safety education and such have always used kinetic visual acuity test apparatuses primarily to measure KVA. A static visual acuity of at least 0.7 is required to receive a driver’s license. Static visual acuity is the ability to recognize still objects. However, sometimes kinetic visual acuity weakens even with good static visual acuity. When people age, their KVA weakens, contributing to the high rate of senior citizen traffic fatalities. Due to this, senior citizens are now required to attend a class when renewing their driver’s licenses. In this class they undergo a KVA test to determine their driving aptitude. Kinetic visual field refers to the visual range in which a moving target can be seen. Peripheral vision information is important in traffic environments. The amount of that information that can be obtained plays an important role, making peripheral vision width a major new definitions of kinetic visuAl Acuity And kinetic visuAl field And their Aging effects